(TibetanReview.net, Oct13, 2014) – Tibet’s exile spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has on Oct 10 congratulated Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai known for her campaign for girl-child’s right to education and India’s anti-bonded child labour activist Kailash Satyarthi for their being declared the joint winners of this year’s Nobel Peace prize.
“For someone so young you showed immense courage in the stand you took to defend girls’ right to education. Later, you again showed tremendous strength as you recovered from the injuries inflicted by those who violently disagreed with you, That you have continued, unbowed, to promote the basic right to education earns only admiration,” he wrote in his message to 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai who currently studies in the UK.
To Kailash Satyarthi, the Dalai Lama wrote that he saw the award as an acknowledgement of Mahatma Gandhi as well, since, like himself, the awardee is his follower too.
He wrote to both that the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to a man and a woman, an Indian and a Pakistani, was indicative of emphasizing the point that “only as human brothers and sisters will we create a more peaceful, happier world”.
He commended both for working to support children whom he said were among the most innocent and vulnerable in society.