Mukhtaran Mai has been nominated for the prestigious ‘Sakharov Prize’, God willing she will be successful. To be nominated for a prize which was given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Aung San Ky and Kofi Annan is a matter of great pride for Mukhtaran Mai, women of Pakistan and all Pakistanis. These are the real hero’s of life, its examples like that of Mukhtaran Mai which makes a difference in the life of millions.
Mai nominated for Sakharov Prize
From our correspondent
20 September 2005
ISLAMABAD — Gang-rape victim Mukhtar Mai is one of 10 distinguished people nominated for the prestigious ‘Sakharov Prize’ which is awarded every year by the European Parliament (EP).
The award is given to the exceptional individuals and organisations who fight against intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.
Allegedly subjected to gang-rape on the orders of a panchayat in June 2002, Mai has emerged as a campaigner against ‘injustice’.
She has now devoted herself to promotion of education in her area and put all the money she received from within and abroad in educational foundation set up for this purpose.
She is among 10 individuals and organisations initially nominated for the Sakharov Prize for 2005 carrying a cash award of Euro 50,000.
One requires nomination from a political group of the EP or support of its at least 25 members to be considered for the prize. A political group in EP led by Dr Andre Brie and Francis Wurtz has nominated Mai for the award.
French association defending freedom of the Press worldwide, Reporters Sans Frontiers, is among other nominees of the year for Sakharov. The EP committee on foreign affairs will shortlist the nominees to three of the 10 candidates for the prize. The list will later be forwarded to the EP Conference of Presidents, which will select the winner on October 26.
The prize will be awarded at a ceremony to be held in Strasbourg on December 10, the day on which the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948. The award was launched in the 1988 in the name of Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov.
A nuclear physicist and assumed as founder of the Hydrogen Bomb in former Soviet Union, Sakharov later won laurels for campaigning against nuclear proliferation in the world and close society of his native country under the communist regime. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.
Prominent among the recipients of Sakharov Prize are Nelson Mandela (1988), Aung San Suu Ky (1990), Tasleema Nasreen (1994) and Kofi Annan (2003).
