CREC-1999-09-27-pt1-PgE1972.pdf
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CONGRES S IONAL RECO RD — Ext e ns i o ns o f Re mar ks E 19 72 Sept e m be r 27, 1999 the democratically elected government of Chile. Open the files, release the documents, let the light finally shine on this dark and shameful period. I t wi ll se t us all free. HINDUS ABDUCT, ABUSE NUN IN INDIA HON. J OHN T. DOO LITTLE OF CALIF ORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE S M ond ay , Sept embe r 27, 199 9 Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I was dis- tressed to read an article from the Indian Ex- press of September 24 which reported that a nun was abducted in the Indian state of Bihar. This is the state where a priest was beheaded last year. Will the religious violence in India never stop? I thank Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, for bringing this terrible event to my attention. Sister Ruby of the Congregation of the Sis- ters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was ab- ducted September 20 after being forced into a rickshaw in the village of Chapra. The kidnap- pers threatened to rape her. The two men ac- cused Sister Ruby of trying to convert Hindus and they threatened to ‘‘teach all Christians a lesson.’’ This is unfortunately typical. Christians were subjected to a wave of church burnings, as well as attacks on prayer halls and schools earlier this year. Another priest was murdered last week. Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, ages 8 and 10, were burned to death while they slept in their Jeep by a Hindu fundamentalist mob. Last year four nuns were raped and four priests were murdered. In 1997, police broke up a Christian festival with gunfire. These incidents are related to religious con- versions by members of the lower castes. To the Hindu militants, all conversions are forced conversions. But it is not just the Christians who have suffered from this kind of religious persecution. Many of my colleagues and I have detailed the religious repression of Sikhs and Muslims by the Indian government and its agents and allies. Sikhs continue to be murdered for their religion and their Golden Temple remains under surveillance by plainclothes police offi- cers fifteen years after the Indian govern- ment’s attack on the Sikh Nation’s holiest shrine. Muslims have seen their most revered mosque in India destroyed and many of their adherents killed. We should support the right of the minority peoples of Khalistan, Kashmir, and Nagaland to a free and fair vote on independence from India. Mr. Speaker, I insert the Indian Express re- port on the abduction of Sister Ruby into the RECORD. [F rom th e Indi an E xpress, Sept. 24 , 1 9 9 9 ] NUN K IDNAPPED, S T RI P P ED I N BIHAR; BISHOPS P ROTEST (By A run Sri vastava) P ATNA.— A nun was ki dnapp ed , ti ed up and str i ppe d i n Chapra on S ep tember 2 0 . T he nun, belongi ng t o t he congregat i on of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart (better k nown a s Pondicherry B lue Si sters) , was forcefully taken in an autorickshaw by two unidentified men on Monday morning to a secluded spot. Her hands were tied behind her back , she was s tr ipped and wa s forced to drink t heir urine. T he nun, who hai l s fr om P ondi cherr y, came to Bihar recently and does not know the dialect. She is an inmate of the St. J o- seph’s Convent in Khalpura Inchapra which is involved in working with the poorest of the poor. She had left her convent around 9 in the morning for Gandhi Chowk from where she took an autorickshaw for the local post of- fice. T here were two men in the autorickshaw. When she reali se d that she wa s be i ng tak en thr ough an unfamil iar route, she asked to be droppe d off. T hey did not stop the ve hicle and one of them took out a k nife, threa tene d to k il l her and accused he r of convert in g p eo- ple. He asked her why she and others were sti ll in Chapra and why they have not left for south India. He told her that Christians would be taught a lesson once the elections were over. According to the Bishop of Bettiah, who in a statement narrated the whole incident, t he nun was dragged out of the vehicle, her hands tied and then she was stri ppe d. T he two men uri nated in a bottl e and thr eatened to rape her when she refused to drink. L ater she was given back her clothes and warned not to contact anyone on the phone. One o f t he attackers foll owe d to mak e sure that she did as tol d. Director G eneral of Po- lice A R J acob s aid: ‘ ‘ I have been briefed by the Bi shop of P atna ab out the inci de nt.’’ He adde d: ‘ ‘ R ight now, I am unable t o say any- thing about the incident. But I am seriously looking into it. I can assure that no one will be spared.’’ J acob has assigned IG A K Gupt a and th e SP of Chapra to ‘ ‘ pe rsonall y in ves ti gate the matter.’’ He has also sent to Chapra a senior woman officer who knows Tamil to i nves- tigate the incident. T he DG P said t he F I R was fi l ed onl y t oday as the local police s tati on refuse d to r eg ister the case yesterday because the petition was in English. He is also looking into the delay in registering the case. The Bishop of Bettiah, Rev Victor Henry Thakur, visited the conv ent. The Ar chbisho p Bene dict J Os ta and the Bishop of Betti ah have strongly con- demned the outrage ous att ack and have d e- mande d a t horough pr obe . T hey st ated t hat th e Chr isti ans wi l l not be frightened by such threats and will continue to serve the poor and the distressed more zealously. A ll en R J ohannes , press se cretary of the Diocese of Bettiah, said the ugly and inhu- man act has shocked the entire Christian community in North Bihar and is creating an atmosphere of fear and panic among the Christian minority as the news spreads over the state. PERSONAL EXPLANATION HON. ROBERT A. WEYGAND OF RHODE ISL AND IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES M ond ay , Sept embe r 27, 199 9 Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, on Wednes- day, September 22, 1999, I was unavoidably detained and was not present during rollcall vote 430. Had I been present I would have voted ‘‘no.’’ MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES ON H.R. 1501, JUVENILE J USTICE REFORM ACT OF 1 9 99 SPEECH OF HON. CAROLYN C. KILPATRICK OF MICHIGAN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES F ri day , Sept ember 24 , 1999 Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, in the five months since the shooting of 16 innocent high-school children at Columbine High School in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, over 500 American citizens have died as a result of gun violence. What has the Republican leadership in Congress done to address this problem? Absolutely nothing. What is worse, the motion offered by Congressman JOHN DOOLITTLE does even less. This motion, which says that anything during the conference of the Juvenile Justice bill that could possibly harm the Sec- ond Amendment to the Constitution should be rejected, is a terrible motion. It is terrible be- cause Congress should protect our neighbor- hoods, our police departments, and the Amer- ican people. This motion does protect one group of individuals—the gun lobby. I make no apologies for standing up for our neighbor- hoods, our police departments, or the citizens of the 15th Congressional District of Michigan. This motion does not protect our neighbor- hoods. Several Members of Congress, Repub- licans and Democrats alike, have offered rea- sonable, sane, and safe recommendations re- garding gun control. The issue of guns is one that cuts across the whole of America’s fabric, but it especially harms minorities and urban areas—similar to the area which I am honored to serve. By limiting the options of Members to posit real and reasonable constitutional limits to control the glut of guns in our nation, this motion makes our neighborhoods unsafe. All we are asking is that gun dealers perform background checks, that child safety locks be sold on handguns, and that former criminals be prevented from buying guns. This motion does not protect our police de- partments. The Fraternal Order of Police Offi- cers and the International Association of Po- lice Chiefs have endorsed measures similar to the Brady law. These same organizations have both supported measures that would get rid of ‘‘cop killer bullets’’, assault weapons and high-powered rifles. This motion would, incred- ibly, not allow these measures to be consid- ered by the conferees. This motion does not protect the Constitu- tion. We have all sworn to protect and defend the Constitution. It is Congress’ job to make laws; it is the job of the women and men of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitu- tion. We do not need to establish the prece- dent of ‘‘pre-interpreting’’ the Constitution for the sake of a sound bite or political folly. This motion removes the option of interpreting the Constitution from the Judicial branch, presup- posing that Members of Congress know what is best for the Constitution. I will continue to fight for our Constitution. I will continue to protect our children, our senior citizens, our neighborhoods, our police offi- cers. I say no to the glut of guns on our streets and to the gun lobby. I urge my col- leagues to say no to the Doolittle motion.
Transcript of CREC-1999-09-27-pt1-PgE1972.pdf
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— Ext ensi ons of Remarks E1972 September 27, 1999
the democratically elected government of Chile. Open the files, release the documents,let the light finally shine on this dark andshameful peri od. I t wi ll set us all free.
HINDUS ABDUCT, ABUSE NUN ININDIA
HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLEOF C A L I F OR N I A
I N T H E H OU S E OF R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
M ond ay , Sept ember 27, 1999
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I was dis-tressed to read an article from the Indian Ex-press of September 24 which reported that anun was abducted in the Indian state of Bihar.This is the state where a priest was beheadedlast year. Will the religious violence in Indianever stop?
I thank Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, Presidentof the Council of Khalistan, for bringing thisterrible event to my attention.
Sister Ruby of the Congregation of the Sis-ters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was ab-ducted September 20 after being forced into arickshaw in the village of Chapra. The kidnap-pers threatened to rape her. The two men ac-cused Sister Ruby of trying to convert Hindusand they threatened to ‘‘teach all Christians alesson.’’
This is unfortunately typical. Christians weresubjected to a wave of church burnings, aswell as attacks on prayer halls and schoolsearlier this year. Another priest was murderedlast week. Missionary Graham Staines and histwo sons, ages 8 and 10, were burned todeath while they slept in their Jeep by a Hindufundamentalist mob. Last year four nuns wereraped and four priests were murdered. In1997, police broke up a Christian festival withgunfire.
These incidents are related to religious con-versions by members of the lower castes. Tothe Hindu militants, all conversions are forcedconversions.
But it is not just the Christians who havesuffered from this kind of religious persecution.Many of my colleagues and I have detailedthe religious repression of Sikhs and Muslimsby the Indian government and its agents andallies. Sikhs continue to be murdered for theirreligion and their Golden Temple remainsunder surveillance by plainclothes police offi-cers fifteen years after the Indian govern-ment’s attack on the Sikh Nation’s holiestshrine. Muslims have seen their most reveredmosque in India destroyed and many of theiradherents killed.
We should support the right of the minoritypeoples of Khalistan, Kashmir, and Nagalandto a free and fair vote on independence fromIndia.
Mr. Speaker, I insert the Indian Express re-port on the abduction of Sister Ruby into theRECORD.
[F rom the Indi an Express, Sept. 24, 1999]
NUN K I D N A P P E D, S T R I P P E D I N B I H A R ; B I S H O P S
P R O T E S T
(By A run Sri vastava)
P A T N A .— A nun was ki dnapped, ti ed up andstr ipped i n Chapra on September 20.
T he nun, belonging to the congregat ion of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart (betterknown as Pondicherry B lue Si sters), wasforcefully taken in an autorickshaw by twounidentified men on Monday morning to a
secluded spot. Her hands were tied behindher back , she was str ipped and was forced todrink t heir uri ne.
T he nun, who hai ls from P ondicherr y,came to Bihar recently and does not knowthe dialect. She is an inmate of the St . J o-seph’s Convent in K halpura I nchapra whi chis involved in working with the poorest of the poor.
She had left her convent around 9 in themorning for Gandhi Chowk from where shetook an autorickshaw for the local post of-fice. T here were two men in t heautorickshaw.
When she reali sed that she was being tak enthrough an unfamil iar route, she asked to bedropped off. They did not stop the vehicleand one of them took out a knife, threatenedto k il l her and accused her of convert ing peo-ple.
He asked her why she and others were sti l lin Chapra and why they have not left forsouth India. He told her that Christianswould be taught a lesson once the electionswere over.
According to the Bishop of Bettiah, who ina statement narrated the whole incident, t henun was dragged out of the vehicle, herhands tied and then she was stri pped. Thetwo men uri nated in a bottl e and threatenedto rape her when she refused to drink.
L ater she was given back her clothes andwarned not to contact anyone on the phone.One of t he attackers foll owed to mak e surethat she did as tol d. Director General of P o-l ice A R J acob said: ‘‘I have been bri efed bythe Bi shop of P atna about the inci dent.’’ H eadded: ‘‘R ight now, I am unable t o say any-thing about the incident. But I am seriouslylooking into it. I can assure that no one willbe spared.’’
J acob has assigned IG A K Gupt a and theSP of Chapra to ‘‘personall y investi gate thematter.’’ He has also sent to Chapra a seniorwoman officer who knows Tamil to i nves-tigate the incident.
T he DGP said the F IR was fi led only todayas the local poli ce stati on refused to r egisterthe case yesterday because the petition wasin English. He is also looking into the delayin registeri ng the case. The Bi shop of Bettiah, Rev Victor Henry Thakur, visitedthe convent. The Ar chbishop Benedict J Ostaand the Bishop of Betti ah have strongly con-demned the outr ageous att ack and have de-manded a t horough probe.
T hey st ated t hat the Chr isti ans wi l l not befrightened by such threats and will continueto serve the poor and the distressed morezealously.
A ll en R J ohannes, press secretary of theDiocese of Bettiah, said the ugly and inhu-man act has shocked the entire Christiancommunity in North Bihar and is creatingan atmosphere of fear and panic among theChristian minority as the news spreads overthe state.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
HON. ROBERT A. WEYGANDOF R H OD E I S L A N D
I N T H E H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
M ond ay , Sept ember 27, 1999
Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, on Wednes-day, September 22, 1999, I was unavoidablydetained and was not present during rollcallvote 430. Had I been present I would havevoted ‘‘no.’’
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREESON H.R. 1501, J UVE NIL E J UST ICERE F ORM ACT OF 1999
S P E E C H O F
HON. CAROLYN C. KILPATRICK O F M I C H I G A N
I N T H E H OU S E OF R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
F ri day , Sept ember 24, 1999
Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, in the fivemonths since the shooting of 16 innocenthigh-school children at Columbine High Schoolin a suburb of Denver, Colorado, over 500American citizens have died as a result of gunviolence. What has the Republican leadershipin Congress done to address this problem?Absolutely nothing. What is worse, the motionoffered by Congressman JOHN DOOLITTLE
does even less. This motion, which says thatanything during the conference of the JuvenileJustice bill that could possibly harm the Sec-ond Amendment to the Constitution should berejected, is a terrible motion. It is terrible be-cause Congress should protect our neighbor-hoods, our police departments, and the Amer-ican people. This motion does protect onegroup of individuals—the gun lobby. I make noapologies for standing up for our neighbor-hoods, our police departments, or the citizensof the 15th Congressional District of Michigan.
This motion does not protect our neighbor-hoods. Several Members of Congress, Repub-licans and Democrats alike, have offered rea-sonable, sane, and safe recommendations re-garding gun control. The issue of guns is onethat cuts across the whole of America’s fabric,but it especially harms minorities and urbanareas—similar to the area which I am honoredto serve. By limiting the options of Members toposit real and reasonable constitutional limitsto control the glut of guns in our nation, thismotion makes our neighborhoods unsafe. Allwe are asking is that gun dealers performbackground checks, that child safety locks besold on handguns, and that former criminalsbe prevented from buying guns.
This motion does not protect our police de-partments. The Fraternal Order of Police Offi-cers and the International Association of Po-lice Chiefs have endorsed measures similar tothe Brady law. These same organizationshave both supported measures that would getrid of ‘‘cop killer bullets’’, assault weapons andhigh-powered rifles. This motion would, incred-ibly, not allow these measures to be consid-ered by the conferees.
This motion does not protect the Constitu-tion. We have all sworn to protect and defendthe Constitution. It is Congress’ job to makelaws; it is the job of the women and men ofthe Supreme Court to interpret the Constitu-tion. We do not need to establish the prece-dent of ‘‘pre-interpreting’’ the Constitution forthe sake of a sound bite or political folly. Thismotion removes the option of interpreting theConstitution from the Judicial branch, presup-posing that Members of Congress know whatis best for the Constitution.
I will continue to fight for our Constitution. Iwill continue to protect our children, our seniorcitizens, our neighborhoods, our police offi-cers. I say no to the glut of guns on ourstreets and to the gun lobby. I urge my col-leagues to say no to the Doolittle motion.
