The Hindu : National : Help secure release of Aung San Suu Kyi: Tutu

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Thursday, Feb 01, 2007
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National

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Help secure release of Aung San Suu Kyi: Tutu

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

FOR CRUSADER: South African leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu receives the Gandhi Peace Prize from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at a function in New Delhi on Wednesday as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh watches.

NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu on Wednesday urged India to help secure the release of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Accepting the Gandhi Peace Prize 2005 from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, he dedicated it to the people of South Africa, the victims of Darfur and Ms. Suu Kyi while thanking Mahatma Gandhi and "Mother India" for helping his rainbow nation get freedom from apartheid.

Archbishop Tutu — the second South African to get this award after his comrade-in-arms Nelson Mandela — said: "We thank you for giving refuge to one of the greatest human beings, the Dalai Lama, and pray that you would help bring about freedom of his Tibet, Burma [Myanmar] and the release of our sister Aung San Suu Kyi."

Personal views: PMO

Reacting to his comments, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said these were his personal views. As far as India was concerned, China was one country and Tibet was part of China.

The South African recalled how India took the initiative to place the subject of South Africa and apartheid for discussion in the United Nations when it was unpopular to take such a stand. "It was India which was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement. In truth, we are free today because of the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi and India. We owe our freedom largely to the support of the international community and India was a prominent member of it. Thank you, Mahatma Gandhi. Thank You, Mother India for helping to free us," said the first non-white Archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa during the apartheid regime.

Equating the Gandhi Peace Prize with the Nobel Peace Prize, he said: "What an unbelievable honour and privilege. I keep having to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. It is too good to be true."

A beautiful message: Kalam

Recalling Archbishop Tutu's counsel for forgiveness and cooperation instead of revenge for past injustices when he chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the post-apartheid era, Mr. Kalam said: His message to "forgive and go on with development" was a beautiful message for all the political systems of the earth.

Describing the Nobel laureate as a "living Gandhian", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "there has been no greater example of the practice of Gandhiji's principles than the reconciliation effort in post-apartheid South Africa."

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