PESHAWAR, Feb 3: Peshawar has been formally proposed as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005, for hosting thousands of Afghan refugees for over two decades.

Vice chancellors Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani of the University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar and Lt-Gen Imtiaz Gul (retd) of the University of Peshawar have filed the nominations separately.

Letters, in this connection, have been posted to the Norwegian Nobel Peace Institute in Oslo ahead of the Feb 1 deadline and the sponsors of the move, Save Peshawar Movement, expressed the hope the city would be awarded the prize.

The idea to file for the nomination was mooted by senior journalist and senior vice-president of the Save Peshawar Movement, Mr Rahimullah Yusufzai, who had advised the two vice-chancellors to wrote formal letters to the Nobel Peace Institute.

The Save Peshawar Movement (SPM), launched recently, is a non-political forum of senior journalists settled and based in Peshawar. The organisation is striving to revive the past glory of the city and make it clean and green.

Mr Rahimullah informed a SPM meeting, chaired by its president Syed Ayaz Badshah here on Tuesday, that a five-member committee of Norwegian parliamentarians would take a final decision on the nomination of the city for the award in October.

In their letters, the two vice-chancellors said Peshawar deserved the prize for opening its doors to Afghan refugees who lived in the city in peace and harmony. "I feel this is a unique example of a city and its inhabitants sharing their meagre resources with needy people", Mr Gilani wrote in the letter.

The inspiration for promoting Peshawar's candidature for the Nobel Peace Prize had come from an Albanian city which had been put up as a candidate for the prize some years ago in recognition of its sacrifice for hosting refugees from Kosovo.

During the presence of Afghan refugees, Peshawar had braved bomb explosions resulting from the Afghan civil war; faced shortage of drinking water, transport and education and health services and suffered significant infrastructure damage, it added.

"The award of the Nobel Peace Prize would recognise Peshawar's contribution to the cause of friendship between Afghans and Pakistanis and it would motivate other cities in the world to promote brotherhood and peace in accordance with the wishes of late Alfred Nobel", the letter concluded.