Satyarthi and Malala ask India, Pak leaders to embrace peace

Oslo, Dec 9: Indian Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai today said trust and friendship is key to sustainable peace in South Asia, as they asked the leaders of the two countries to embrace peace.

"Trust and friendship is important for sustainable peace between India and Pakistan," 60-year-old Satyarthi told reporters here on the eve of annual award ceremony.

"For me, relationship between people of India and Pakistan is more important than the talks between the two Prime Ministers," said Satyarthi, who shares this year's Nobel Peace Prize with 17-year-old Malala. He said he will try in India and Pakistan and even in other countries how the youth and children can together walk on the path of peace.

"Because, peace is not something which can be negotiated on the tables and made sustainable, neither it is something which can be taught in temples and mosques. Peace is every child's human and fundamental right," he said.

"Our youth should also realise that with respect, with freedom, with good education and with peace we want to live our lives. And if there comes any obstacle in this path, the youth from India and Pakistan will strengthen the fight for peace under the leadership of our daughters like Malala."

Echoing Satyarthi's view, Malala said, "India and Pakistan need to embrace peace." "If we teach the children about tolerance, patience and peace, then by God's grace there will be good relations between India and Pakistan and we will be like brothers once again," she said.

The teenage child rights activist said that when children of India and Pakistan will get education only then the relations between both the countries will improve. Malala, the youngest recipient of a Nobel Prize, said it was her wish that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the award ceremony.

"It is my wish they stand together (here) and talk about peace. It would have been a great thing," she said. Satyarthi said that religious leaders can play important role in spreading tolerance in the world. India and Pakistan have been involved in a war of words after New Delhi cancelled the Foreign Secretary-level meeting in August after Pakistan's envoy in India met Kashmiri separatists ahead of the talks.

PTI