Hasina chosen for Indira Gandhi Peace Prize

Dhaka, Nov 20 (bdnews24.com)—Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been named as the recipient of the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development this year.

An international jury chaired by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh announced the award Thursday.

Hasina has been chosen for her "outstanding contribution to the promotion of democracy and pluralism," the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust said in a statement.

It also cited Hasina's "determined drive to alleviate poverty and secure social and economic justice for her people through inclusive and sustainable development and her consistent commitment to peace."

"After her re-election in December 2008, Hasina embarked on her 'Vision 2021', aimed at transforming Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021, by eliminating poverty and inequity," the Trust said.

"As prime minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001, she had launched a number of programmes to meet the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable sections of the population, through projects covering employment-generation, housing, health and food security," it added.

The statement also mentioned the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other members of her family in 1975.

The announcement came on Thursday as the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, upheld a verdict that handed down death sentences to the killers, more than three decades after the bloody event.

Introduced in 1986, the award in the past years was given to, among others, Kofi Annan, Bill Gates, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mohammad Al Baradei, Dr Muhammad Younus, Wangari Maathai and Hamid Karzai.

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