DR. G.S. AULAKH WINS INTERNATIONAL PEACE PRIZE AWARD
(Extensions of Remarks - September 19, 2006)

HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, the President of the Council of Khalistan, whom many of us know, has been awarded the International Peace Prize Award by Dal Khalsa USA. It was awarded for his tireless efforts in support of peace in South Asia and freedom for the Sikh nation. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Aulakh on this prestigious award and congratulate Dal Khalsa on selecting such a worthy honoree. Dr. Aulakh bas worked for over 20 years to free the Sikh nation from oppression that has taken the lives of more than a quarter of a million Sikhs and left over 52,000 as political prisoners. He has worked with many of us here in Congress on both sides of the aisle to expose this repression and free his people.

Mr. Speaker, we should help this struggle by declaring our support for a free and fair plebiscite in Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and wherever they are seeking the kind of freedom that we enjoy, and we should stop giving aid and trade to India until it stops oppressing its people.

I would like to insert the press release on Dr. Aulakh's award into the Record.

Dr. Aulakh Receives International Peace Award

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 12, 2006 - Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, received the International Peace Prize Award on August 27 from Dal Khalsa of America, headed by Sardar Paramjit Singh Sekhon. The award was presented at a ceremony at the Fremont Gurdwara in Fremont, California. He was nominated for this prestigious award by Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon, Managing Editor of the International Journal of Sikh Affairs. According to a Dal Khalsa USA press release, he was given the award "for his tireless service to preserve peace in South Asia in particular and the world in general." The release cites Dr. Aulakh for "continuing the Sikhs' struggle to regain their lost sovereignty, independence, and political power, by peaceful means."

The award was presented for Dr. Aulakh's continuing efforts to internationalize the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent Sikh struggle for independence and the human rights violations against the Sikhs in India. He has been a tireless worker for the cause of Sikh freedom. Dr. Aulakh has raised awareness of the massive human-rights violations in India.

The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikh infants, children, youth, men, women, and elderly since 1984, more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland, over 90,000 Muslims in Kashmir, tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims throughout the country, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Bodos, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and others.

Indian police arrested human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra after he exposed their policy of mass cremation of Sikhs, in which over 50,000 Sikhs have been arrested, tortured, and murdered, then their bodies were declared unidentified and secretly cremated. Khalra was murdered in police custody. His body was not given to his family. No one has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra. The police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. He has never been tried for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. In 1994, the U.S. State Department reported that the Indian government had paid over 41,000 cash bounties for killing Sikhs. A report by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) quotes the Punjab Civil Magistracy as writing "if we add up the figures of the last few years the number of innocent persons killed would run into lakhs [hundreds of thousands.]" The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government's murders of Sikhs "worse than a genocide."

The MASR report states that 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political prisoners in India without charge or trial, mostly under a repressive law known as the "Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act" (TADA), which expired in 1995. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984! There has been no list published of those who were acquitted under TADA and those who are still rotting in Indian jails. Tens of thousands of other minorities are also being held as political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. "We demand the immediate release of all these political prisoners," said Dr. Aulakh. "Why are there political prisoners in a democracy?"

Missionary Graham Staines was murdered along with his two sons, ages 8 and 10, by a mob of militant, fundamentalist Hindu nationalists who set fire to the jeep, surrounded it, and chanted "Victory to Hannuman," a Hindu god. Missionary Joseph Cooper was beaten so badly that he had to spend a week in an Indian hospital. Then the Indian government threw him out of the country. None of the people involved has been tried. The persons who have murdered priests, raped nuns, and burned Christian churches have not been charged or tried. Police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire.

The murderers of 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims in Gujarat have never been brought to trial. An Indian newspaper reported that the police were ordered not to get involved in that massacre, a frightening parallel to the Delhi massacre of Sikhs in 1984.

"Sikhs and other minorities cannot live under Indian rule," said Dr. Aulakh. "The actions of the Indian government have made it clear that there is no place for Sikhs or other minorities such as Christians, Muslims, Dalits, and others in India's Hindu theocracy," he said. Dr. Aulakh took note of the charges filed against 35 Sikhs for making speeches and raising the Khalistani flag. "Clearly India is scared of the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent movement for freedom inside and outside Punjab, Khalistan," he said.

History shows that multinational states such as India are doomed to failure. Countries like Austria-Hungary, India's longtime friend the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and others prove this point. India is not one country; it is a polyglot like those countries, thrown together for the convenience of the British colonialists. It is doomed to break up as they did. Currently, there are 17 freedom movements within India's borders. It has 18 official languages.

"Only a sovereign, independent Khalistan will end the repression and raise the standard of living for the people of Punjab, said Dr. Gurmit Aulakh. "As Professor Darshan Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takht, said, 'If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he Is not a Sikh.'," Dr. Aulakh said. "We must free Khalistan now."

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This material is circulated by the Council of Khalistan, which is registered with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as an agent of the Council of Khalistan, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab. The material is filed with the DOJ where the required registration is available for inspection.
Registration does not indicate approval of the contents by the U.S. Government.