Child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi is offered sweets at his office in New Delhi after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. PTI
Indian to carry forward ‘struggle’ with Pakistan teen; Nobel panel applauds Satyarthi for Gandhian principles
Elated at receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, child rights crusader Kailash Satyarthi said he will ask Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, with whom he shares the award, to join him in the fight against exploitation of children.
The Bachpan Bachao Andolan founder said he would tell Malala to carry forward the “struggle” as it was “very important” that children in both India and Pakistan are born and live in peace. “I know her (Malala Yousafzai) personally. I will ask her that besides our fight for child rights and education for children, particularly for girls, we have to go a step further and work for peace in our subcontinent. For India and Pakistan, it is very important that our children are born and live in peace,” Mr Satyarthi said.
His remarks came soon after the Nobel Committee announced that the Peace Prize was being shared between him and Malala as it “regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism”. The conferring of the award on an Indian and a Pakistani is being seen as a symbolic move to nudge towards peace two countries that have been mired in hostilities for decades and have traded heavy fire across the border in recent days.
Mr Satyarthi has been leading the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in rescuing over 80,000 children from forced labour with the help of the local administrations in a number of states, including Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Delhi.
The Nobel committee said Mr Satyarthi had maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi for heading various forms of peaceful protests.
“Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the committee said.
Malala had shot into the limelight after Taliban militants shot her for advocating education for girls. She was airlifted to Britain where she underwent surgery and recuperated for months.
Yousafzai at 17 is the youngest winner of the coveted prize. Mr Satyarthi said he will call Malala and congratulate her on winning the award. Malala, who was nominated in the peace prize category last year too, had displayed tremendous courage even after the Taliban attack when she resolutely expressed her determination to carry on with her campaign for child rights and girls’ education, especially in Pakistan. Satyarthi, 60, dedicated the award to the people of India and vowed to work with renewed vigour.