November 19, 2001

PM’s ADDRESS AT THE AWARD CEREMONY OF THE INDIRA GANDHI PRIZE 2000

    The President Shri K.R. Narayanan gave away the ‘Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development – 2000’, to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Mary Robinson, at Rashtrapathi Bhawan, here today. Following is the text of the speech of the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the award ceremony:

    "I have great pleasure in extending my warm felicitations on the Indira Gandhi Prize to Ms Mary Robinson.

    Over the years, Ms Robinson’s energetic espousal of human rights and humanitarian causes has taken her to various troubled spots in the world, creating global awareness and awakening public consciences about societies less stable than ours and people less fortunate than us. We remember her work for Somalia, and in Rwanda.

    We also recall her efforts, as President of Ireland, to build and strengthen cooperation between developed and developing countries. Her call, three weeks ago, for an ethical and humanizing globalization showed the same concern for the forgotten interests of the least developed countries.

    Distinguished guests, while recounting the achievements of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, we remember the brutal human rights atrocity of September 11. On that day, nearly six thousand people had their most fundamental right snatched away – the right to live. The perpetrators of these barbaric acts exploited the openness of a free, multicultural society to delivery a message of hate, bigotry and extremism. The free world has rejected this pernicious message, and has rightly launched a campaign against its messengers. It will be a long and difficult campaign, requiring close cooperation and determined political will of the international community, to destroy elaborate networks which have been built, supported and encouraged by some countries.

    India has lost tens of thousands of lives from the same brand of terrorism over the last two decades. Unfortunately, it took the additional calamity of September 11 to convince the world that leniency towards terrorism anywhere threatens the liberty, security, progress and prosperity of societies everywhere. Never again should we put the safety of any society at risk by giving terrorists any quarter. The right of the community to security should override the freedom of operation of the terrorist, whatever his excuse.

    The international community is also today staring at a monumental task of humanitarian assistance. As a war-ravaged Afghanistan eventually limps back to normalcy, the restoration of infrastructure and the provision of basic amenities in the country will become urgent tasks. The 4 million Afghan refugees, who have fled their country over the past two decades, should be encouraged to return with some guarantee of physical and economic security. Otherwise, the economic strains and social tensions of a continuing refugee situation can create fresh political instability in the region.

    India has pledged 100 million dollars towards the rehabilitation and reconstruction effort in post-conflict Afghanistan. This is only a beginning. Massive external assistance will be required, consisting not only of funding, but also of institution building and human resource development. It will require the participation of countries in this region, of the developed countries, of non-governmental agencies, and of UN agencies – including the High Commissioner for Human Rights. We have to succeed in this exercise, for the sake of the people of Afghanistan. The establishment of a stable, democratic and secular regime in Afghanistan would be the most fitting reply to the terrorists who conceived and masterminded destruction from the soil of that country. It would further the noble cause of international peace and development, which we recognize through the Indira Gandhi Prize.

Thank you."