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Desmond Tutu gets Gandhi Peace Prize

January 31, 2007

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is the winner of the 2007 Gandhi Peace Prize.

Tutu, who is in India to attend an international conference on Mahatma Gandhi's teachings, received the award from President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Addressing the conference a day before, Tutu had observed that the war against terror could not be won till the conditions, which made some people desperate and treat others as rubbish, are addressed.

Tutu said 'disagreements' should not be met by 'force of annihilation' but with 'forgiveness, negotiations and compromise.' "There is need for seeing point of view of others," he said.

Noting that there have been people like Adolf Hitler, Mussolini and Gen Alberto Pinochet who seemed 'invincible,' the South African leader emphasised the need for learning lessons from history sooner than later.

He pointed out that nobody remembers them but leaders of peace and tolerance like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama are revered and held in high esteem by the world 'because they are good.'

Hailing Mahatma Gandhi's ideology of non-violence, he said it was as relevant today as hundred years ago and emphasised that 'practices of injustice' can never have the last word.

Image: South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu receives the Gandhi Peace Prize from President A P J Abdul Kalam. 
Photograph Courtesy: Rashtrapati Bhavan

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