His Holiness awarded Professor ML Sondhi Prize for International Politics

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, April 28: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama was awarded Professor ML Sondhi Prize for International Politics at an event held yesterday at India International Centre in New Delhi.

The Professor ML Sondhi Memorial Trust and the ML Sondhi Institute for Asia-Pacific Affairs conferred the prestigious prize to the Tibetan leader for his proposal of 5 Point Peace Plan and Tibet’s potential role as a buffer state between India and China, for his commitment to the principle of non-violence, opposition to religious persecution and promotion of dialogue between science and spirituality, according to the citation of the prize.

Image- Jeremy Russell/OHHDL
Image- Jeremy Russell/OHHDL

The event had in attendance, India’s former Union Minister, Arun Shourie and Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh among hoards of other dignitaries and a group of Tibetan students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Mrs Sondhi, organizer of the event and wife of late Prof M L Sondhi, presented the award to His Holiness the Dalai Lama which includes a glass plague, a cash component of Rs 1 lakh and an invitation to lecture in the capital at a convenient time.

“The award recipients are usually honored when they are given a prize, this is one of the rare cases where the award is honored because it is bestowed on someone like His Holiness,” Chief Guest of the event Arun Shourie said and he further compared His Holiness’ moral authority to that of Mahatma Gandhi’s.

“We all want to live a happy life but we are confronted by problems, many of our own making. A hopeful sign, however is that scientists have found evidence indicating that fundamental human nature is compassionate. On that basis, we may create a better, more peaceful world by the end of the present century if we start to make the effort now,” the Tibetan nobel laureate said, reiterating his call for the need to recognize the oneness of humanity.

The octogenarian Tibetan leader further described Prof Sondhi, a Tibet supporter who also happened to be his close friend, as ‘not so much pro-Tibet as pro-justice’ as the cause of Tibet is based on truth and reality.