AFTER a futile attempt to become the chancellor of the famed Oxford University, the former prime minister, who is currently in jail for corruption, got himself ‘nominated’ for the Nobel Peace Prize through a dubious advocacy organisation in collaboration with Partiet Sentrum, a Norwegian political party. It was no wonder that the Nobel Prize Committee subse-quently denied anything to do with such claims, saying they were baseless and false.

I wonder how a Norwegian political party was able to satisfy itself about the credentials of the so-called ‘nominee’. How can a leader who has been involved in trying to destablise democracy by calling for the army to interfere in the country’s political affairs, be nominated by a Norwegian political party through an unknown source for such a coveted prize?

It was rumoured that the Norwegian party had been behind the move only to garner the votes of the Norwegian-Pakistani community. If that is true, which seems to be the case, the decision was at least as logical as it was despicable.

It is quite possible that in order to appease the Jewish community in Norway, Partiet Sentrum would consider ‘nomi-nating’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next for killing thousands of innocent Palestinians, including women and children, and turning the bustling Gaza Strip into a living hell.

Prof Sajjad Khattak
Attock

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2025