Harsh Mander and Karwan-e-Mohabbat in PRIO shortlist for Nobel Peace Prize 2022
'Alt News' Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha also mentioned as worthy candidates
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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Virat Kohli fined 20 per cent match fees, one demerit point for his altercation with Sam Konstas
Melbourne, Dec 26: India superstar Virat Kohli was on Thursday fined 20 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point by the ICC following his on-field altercation with Australia debutant Sam Konstas on the opening day of the fourth Test here.
The incident happened in the 10th over when Kohli and the 19-year-old Konstas bumped their shoulders and also exchanged a few words in the first session’s play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here.
"Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct relates to: "inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator during an International Match"," the ICC said on its website.
"No formal hearing was needed as Kohli accepted the sanctions propsed by Match Referee Andy Pycroft. On-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid and fourth umpire Shawn Craig levelled the charge," it added.
While moving across the pitch after the completion of the over, both the players bumped their shoulders and exchanged a few words before Australia opener Usman Khawaja and on-field umpires Gough and Wilson intervened.
Konstas later played down the incident after the end of the play, saying "Virat Kohli accidentally bumped into me, that's cricket and can happen with tension."
"Have a look where Virat walks. Virat's walked one whole pitch over to his right and instigated that confrontation. No doubt in my mind whatsoever."
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 26, 2024
- Ricky Ponting #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/zm4rjG4X9A
Kohli and Konstas come together and make contact 👀#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/adb09clEqd
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 26, 2024
