Al Gomhuria, p.3, (16-11-2008)

Mubarak and Nehru Award for Peace

By: Mohammed Ali Ibrahim

President Hosni Mubarak will head for India today in a historical visit after 25 years of his last visit as the President of the Republic. Mubarak visited India two times, the first in 1982, less than one year after taking over presidency, and the second in 1983 to attend NAM summit in New Delhi.

The President will hold talks and meetings at the highest official level as he will discuss bilateral political, economic and scientific relations. The main incident of the visit is his receiving the Jawaharlal Nehru Peace Award. Readers should know the history of this award and the reason why India is keen on Mubarak's visit to receive the award.

One year after Nehru's death and following India's independence in 1965, the Indian government established an award named after Nehru. Nehru was a symbol of peace and a follow-up to the Indian spiritual leader Gandhi. This award is second, in terms of celebrity, to Noble Prize. The Indian President (currently a female president) will hand over the award in a special ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The ceremony will be attended by the Vice-President and the Prime Minister.

U Thant, the first UN Secretary-General, was the first to win the award in 1965, followed by Martin Luther King in 1966.

Among the most prominent winners of the prize were Mother Teresa, 1969; Kenneth Kaunda, 1970; Josip Broz Tito, late Yugoslavian president; André Malraux, international French writer; Leopold Senghor, 1982; Bruno Kreisky, former Chancellor of Austria, 1983; Indira Gandhi, 1984; Olof Palme, former Swedish Prime Minister, 1985; Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, UN Secretary-General, 1987; Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany, 1990.

President Mubarak won the prize in 1995, an event which was declared in 1997. Since that time, he has not been able to receive it for being busy with internal and external issues. Several invitations have been extended to him to receive the award and now it is the right time.

In fact, President Mubarak holds particular appreciation to India since he was a commander of the air forces during October War and previously when he was a director of the air academy. Some aviation teachers were Indians and they have contributed to training and educating the Egyptian pilots.

The relation between the late leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and Nehru is well-known. Their friendship were clearly seen in the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1955, following Bandung Conference. In 1967, Indira Gandhi supported Egypt and voting for UN Security Council Resolutions Nos. 242 and 238 calling for the return of the occupied Arab territory. However, she supported President Sadat's peace initiative in 1977 describing his visit to Jerusalem as courageous and positive and considering Camp David agreement in 1979 an initial step towards fair settlement in the Middle East.

It is not a secret that India was willing to provide spare parts to Egyptian aircrafts and weapons when the former Soviet Union threatened to stop providing Egypt with supplies.

The visit of President Mubarak to India and his receiving the most significant peace award in Asia, Nehru Award, synchronizes with the 60^th anniversary of establishing the Indo-Egyptian diplomatic relations in 1948.

The Indians look at Egypt as an important country in the Middle East for several reasons. The population of Egypt amounts to 80 million. India, whose population exceeded one billion and 200 million, look highly at large countries, in terms of population, which maintain high growth rates and keep, at the same time, their political decisions independent.

India highly appreciates President Mubarak who assumed presidency in very difficult circumstances and preserved peace without compromising the Egyptian sovereignty over the whole Egyptian territory.

The Indian Subcontinent has great love for President Mubarak and for Egypt. It was the first country to be visited by Rajiv Gandhi who followed his mother Indira Gandhi as a Prime Minister.

The Indian politicians look at President Hosni Mubarak as a courageous leader who won in peace as well as in war. He won a long-lasting battle against terrorism. India has also been involved in such a battle against extremists.

Both Egypt and India were exposed to conspiracies attempting to separate parts of their territories and annexing them to other countries. In this connection, Egypt witnessed the crises of the southern Hala'ib and Shalateen; Taba and Israel's plan to take a part of Sinai to settle the Palestinians. India also was exposed to separatist movements like that of Tamil Nadu. China also sought to take a part of India at the border area. In addition, there is a long-standing Indo-Pak conflict over Kashmir.

India's respect to President Mubarak stems also from his rejection to any pressures on the Egyptian political decision as he refuses to surrender to any world or regional superpower and to allow for any intervention with the internal affairs of the country. For the Indians – as well as other peoples – President Mubarak leads a balanced, courageous and independent policy.

President Mubarak preserved peace and the sovereignty of his country in spite of existing in a region full of violent trends and extremism. Israel and some militias supported by regional and Arab powers tend to enter into unreasonable ventures. However, Egypt has not given up its effective and enlightened role in the Arab World. President Mubarak's recent visit to Sudan, his meeting with the Lebanese President in Cairo and his support to the integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon proves this.

India respects the Egyptian democracy. The Indian democracy is the most ancient and deep-rooted in Asia and the largest throughout the world. However, this democracy has its own controls. In case that no party managed to win the majority to form the government, the president of the republic can entrust the formation of the government to any party leader, the one he thinks capable of forming a stable government. The president of the republic has the power to discharge any state ruler (governor) and impose emergency law in this state until elections have been held for forming a new legislative assembly, and hence forming a new government.

President Mubarak is the first Arab president to receive Nehru Award for Peace. When President Arafat won this award he was just a leader of a national movement for freedom. Mubarak, Tito, Kaunda and Helmut Kohl have won the award while in power over a period of 43 years.

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