[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1747-E1748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          DR. G.S. AULAKH WINS INTERNATIONAL PEACE PRIZE AWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                          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

[[Page E1748]]

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., Sept. 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 murder 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 Khallstani, he is not a Sikh.','' Dr. Aulakh said. ``We 
     must free Khalistan now.''

                          ____________________