New Delhi: Social activist and former IAS Officer Harsh Mander, who resigned after the 2002 Gujarat Riots, with his campaign Karwan-e-Mohabbat (Caravan of Love), has been listed in the shortlist of Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize this year.

The winner is to be announced in October. The shortlist was announced by PRIO on September 30, 2022.

PRIO is not Nobel Peace Prize Committee neither it is an associated body of the Nobel Foundation, but based on their professional assessments, PRIO Directors have made it a tradition to offer their personal shortlists for the Peace Prize. 

It may be noted that PRIO mentioned Alt News co-founders Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha also as worthy candidates for the Peace Prize.

Alt News co-founders Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha

The shortlist features Harsh Mander and Karwan-e-Mohabbat (Caravan of Love) of India; Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya of Belarus and Alexei Navalny of Russia; the International Court of Justice (ICJ); Ilham Tohti of China, Agnes Chow and Nathan Law of Hong Kong and the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).

An author, social activist and director of the Centre for Equity Studies in New Delhi, Harsh Mander has been among those striving in India to retain the nation’s image of religious tolerance and priority to maintain peace, as the last few years have seen a sharp increase in incidents of religion-based violence across the country. The situation of Muslims in India has especially seen a down slide under the Hindu nationalist outlook of the administration. In 2017, he launched the campaign Karwan-e-Mohabbat to express support to victims of such hate crimes. Mander is today a major voice for religious tolerance in Indian society, while his campaign is a force to reckon with for people opposing conflict and violence in the name of religion, said PRIO.

Zubair and Sinha were mentioned for fighting against religious extremism and intolerance in India. The fact-checking site Alt News has contributed greatly to exposing misinformation that aims at verbally abusing Muslims in India, said PRIO.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Alexei Navalny: Tsikhanouskaya and Navalny are open critics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They have strongly protested the Russian aggression and the assistance by Belarus, and simultaneously fought to be democratic and non-violent alternatives to Lukashenko and Putin.

International Court of Justice: Citing the example of the ICJ order to Russia in March 2022 to "immediately suspend the military operations" in Ukraine, PRIO said that the ICJ attempt to promote peace through international law is a major step in support of multilateral collaboration for peaceful relations.

Ilham Tohti, Agnes Chow and Nathan Law: Scholar Tohti, who was jailed for life in 2014, fought against human rights abuse meted out to the Uyghurs. Law has been in exile in the UK since the enactment of the national security law in 2020, while Chow has faced imprisonment for her political activity.

HRDAG and CANVAS: Based in San Francisco, HRDAG systematically documents and analyses data on human rights abuses, said PRIO, adding, that CANVAS, based in Belgrade and co-founded by Srđa Popović and Slobodan Đinović, educates activists around the world in non-violent forms of protest and resistance.”

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London, Aug 5 (PTI): An Indian-origin taxi driver based in Ireland for over 23 years has become the latest to be targeted in an unprovoked attack in the capital Dublin, with local police (Gardai) launching an investigation into the violent assault.

Lakhvir Singh, in his 40s, told local media that he picked up two young men in their 20s on Friday night and dropped them at Poppintree, in the Ballymun suburb of Dublin.

Upon arriving at the destination, the men are said to have opened the vehicle door and struck him twice on the head with a bottle. As the suspects fled, they reportedly shouted: "Go back to your own country".

"In 10 years I've never seen anything like this happen," Singh told ‘Dublin Live’.

"I'm really scared now and I'm off the road at the moment. It will be very hard to go back. My children are really scared," he said.

A Dublin police spokesperson said Singh was taken to the city's Beaumont Hospital with injuries determined as not life-threatening.

"Gardaí are investigating an assault reported to have occurred in Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11 at approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, 1st August 2025. A man, aged in his 40s, was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury. Investigations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.

The incident followed an Indian Embassy advisory, also issued on Friday, expressing safety concerns following recent attacks in and around the capital Dublin and urging Indian citizens to take safety precautions.

"There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently,” states the advisory.

“The embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned in Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours," the statement reads, adding emergency embassy contact details as 0899423734 and cons.dublin@mea.gov.in.

It came in the wake of a brutal attack on a 40-year-old Indian man at Parkhill Road in the Tallaght suburb of Dublin on July 19, described as “mindless, racist violence” by locals.

The Gardai had opened an investigation into the case and Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was among those who took to social media to express shock over the attack.

“Regarding the recent incident of physical attack on an Indian national that happened in Tallaght, Dublin, the embassy is in touch with the victim and his family. All the requisite assistance is being offered. The embassy is also in touch with the relevant Irish authorities in this regard,” the embassy said in a social media post days after the incident.

A Stand Against Racism protest was also held by the local community in condemnation of what was described as a "vicious racist attack" and to express solidarity with migrants.

Last week, Dr Santosh Yadav took to LinkedIn to post details of a “brutal, unprovoked racist attack”.

The entrepreneur and AI expert stressed that it was not an isolated incident and called for “concrete measures” from the governments of Ireland and India to ensure Indians feel safe to walk the streets of Dublin.

His post revealed that a group of six teenagers attacked him from behind as he walked to his apartment in Dublin.

“This is not an isolated incident. Racist attacks on Indian men and other minorities are surging across Dublin — on buses, in housing estates, and on public streets. Yet, the government is silent. There is no action being taken against these perpetrators. They run free and are emboldened to attack again,” reads Yadav's post.

Fine Gael party Councillor for Tallaght South, Baby Pereppadan, was among those who expressed concern following last month’s attack.

“People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he said.