PARIS, April 30: A group of French nationals are lobbying for the posthumous award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Afghanistan’s slain military supremo Ahmad Shah Masood, an Afghan diplomat here said on Tuesday.

Mehrabuddin Mastan, charge d’affaires at the embassy in Paris, said French ex-army general and centrist Euro MP Philippe Morillon and Richard Cazenave, a French parliamentarian, last January filed a petition to the Norway-based Nobel Peace Prize committee.

He said that the petition also floated on the Internet had received around 4,000 signatures worldwide, including those of the Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai and his defence minister Qasim Fahim.

According to the Afghan diplomat, the support committee, headed by Helene Surgers, a French aid-worker for Afghanistan, groups 15 other French nationals who are fans of Masood.

“Between 40 to 50 members of the European Parliament, French parliament and provincial assemblies have written the idea,” he said.

Mastan said that the US-based Jewish professor, Elie Wiesel, also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Nicole Fontaine, the outgoing chairperson of the European Parliament, also backed Masood’s candidacy.

Masood visited the European Parliament last April to warn the world of the dangers emanating from the Taliban.—AFP