Khalsa Aid, a non-for-profit based in the United Kingdom has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its humanitarian efforts.
Canadian MP Tim Uppal, Mayor of Brampton Patrick Brown and the MPP for Brampton South Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria have officially nominated Khalsa Aid for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the letter written to Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair, The Norwegian Nobel Committee, Tim Uppal has stated that Khalsa Aid is an international NGO with an aim to provide humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflict zones around the world.
It also stated that Khalsa Aid became the first-ever cross border international humanitarian aid organisation based on the Sikh principle of recognising the whole human race as one.
For over 20 years @Khalsa_Aid has been helping people in desperate situations around the world. In my capacity as a federal Member of Parliament and with the support of @PrabSarkaria and @patrickbrownont, I am nominating Khalsa Aid for a Nobel Peace Prize. pic.twitter.com/J2yApsWfhd
— Tim S. Uppal (@TimUppal) January 17, 2021
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Further, it states that the charity was founded by Ravinder Singh, who was stuck by the plight of the refugees in Kosovo in 1999. Khalsa Aid has been providing support around the world to victims of natural and manmade disasters such as floods, earthquakes, famines and wars for over 20 years.
Uppal also writes that Khalsa Aid, inspired by the Sikh ideology of ‘Sarbat da bhala’ (well-being of all), has been helping all those in need regardless of race, religion and border.
He also said Khalsa Aid represented exactly the kind of international cooperation and commitment the world needed in today’s times.
Moreover, Khalsa Aid has been actively serving the farmers who have been protesting at the Delhi borders for almost 2 months. The NGO is running a 600-bed full-to-capacity night shelter along with the two ‘Kisan Malls’ which provide various items of daily use, such as inner wears, thermals, toothbrush and sanitary pads to those in need, IndiaTimes reported.
Additionally, the Delhi riots that raged on for three days in February last year leaving 53 people dead and more than a thousand homeless also received some attention from Khalsa Aid. According to the Indian daily, the Managing Director of Khalsa Aid (Asia Pacific) Amarpreet Singh had said that Khalsa Aid had identified and gotten in touch with shopkeepers and business owners who had lost their shops in the riots and would help them rebuild it so that they can get their business started again.
On the other hand, 2 days before the charity’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) issued summons to Khalsa Aid’s India director Amanpreet Singh and other trustees and asked them to depose before the agency.
“A large-scale indiscriminate NIA investigation of this nature against voluntary agencies, groups and individuals who provide humanitarian support is unprecedented in Indian history,” the NGO said in a statement. “We urge all international bodies and monitoring agencies to hold India to account on what appears on the face of it a politically motivated step,” the NGO said.
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