Salmaan Taseer gets top US peace prize

LAHORE: Former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer has been honoured with the Martin Luther King Junior Peace Award for his efforts in promoting human rights, peace and humanity. On behalf of the late governor, the award was received by family members at a ceremony on Friday.

Salmaan Taseer is the first non-American to receive the Martin Luther King Jr Award. Since 1979, the annual award honours those who make a significant contribution to the furtherance of Martin Luther King’s non-violent approach to eradicate racial, economic, and social injustice.

Taseer was assassinated in January 2011 for supporting a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was falsely implicated in a blasphemy case, for which the court had awarded her death.

Addressing the gathering, Muslim-Christian Fellowship International chairman Zia Mahmood, who had presented the award, said that Salmaan Taseer was a man of courage who had always helped the depressed and the poor. He said that the sacrifices rendered by the late governor for the sake of peace, tolerance, social justice and human rights could not be forgotten.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2013.