New Delhi, December 11 – It was a rare moment of bonhomie between arch rivals India and Pakistan as the two nations celebrated a Peace Nobel shared by child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai at a glittering ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday.
In his 30-minute acceptance speech that he began by addressing Malala as “dear daughter”, Satyarthi, 60, repeatedly looked towards the 17-year-old from Pakistan and praised her struggle against religious extremism and intolerance. “Young people like Malala are rising up everywhere and choosing peace over violence, tolerance over extremism, and courage over fear,” he said.
“I give the biggest credit of this honour to my movement’s Kaalu Kumar, Dhoom Das and Adarsh Kishore from India and Iqbal Masih from Pakistan who made the supreme sacrifice for protecting the freedom and dignity of children,” Satyarthi said, adding that he also remembered children from Pakistan too as he accepted the award “with all humility”.
India and Pakistan have put their talks in cold storage since the controversy over Pakistani envoy to New Delhi inviting Kashmiri separatists to his official residence on the eve of foreign secretary-level talks between the two neighbours earlier this year.
At the Nobel ceremony, the Indian child rights activist remembered Shazia and Kainat Riaz, the two Pakistani girls who were also shot with Malala on their way to school in October, 2012. “My brave sisters Shazia and Kainat Riaz who were also shot that day in Swat with me,” Malala later remembered them in her speech.
“I am also honoured to receive this award together with Kailash Satyarthi, who has been a champion of children’s rights for a long time. Twice as long, in fact, than I have been alive.
I am also glad that we can stand together and show the world that an Indian and a Pakistani can be united in peace and together work for children’s rights,” the Pakistani teenager said in her acceptance speech.
With performances by Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan at the Nobel ceremony, a subcontinental imprint to the 2014 edition of the high-profile ceremony could not be missed even as the two nations continue to blow hot and cold over a bilateral dialogue.
-INDIA TODAY
