ISLAMABAD: Addres­sing calls by people on social media and the government to give him the Nobel Peace Prize, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said he was “not worthy” of the prestigious award.

Instead, he said, the peace prize should be awarded to the person who would solve the Kashmir conflict.

“I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace and human development in the subcontinent,” the prime minister tweeted.

The tweet came in response to thousands of people calling through signed online petitions for Imran Khan to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after he freed an Indian pilot in a bid to defuse tensions with his country’s arch-rival neighbour.

The hashtag #NobelPeace ForImranKhan began trending on Twitter on Thursday after Prime Minister Khan announced that the captured pilot would be released as a peace gesture.

Abhinandan — whose MiG fighter was shot down by Pakistan — returned to India late on Friday.

Two similarly-worded campaigns on the change.org platform launched by users in the UK and Pakistan called for Imran Khan to be nominated for next year’s prize for his peace efforts and dialogues in the Asian region on diverse conflicts. They gained more than 240,000 and 60,000 digital signatures, respectively.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday also submitted a resolution in the country’s parliament, demanding Mr Khan be given the award for his contribution to peace in the region.

The resolution said the prime minister had played a sagacious role in reducing recent tension between Pakistan and India which was created due to the warmongering attitude of the Indian leadership.

It said that the aggression manifested by the Indian leadership had brought the two nuclear states to the brink of war, endangering lives of tens of millions of people on both sides of the border. However, the situation was averted due to its proactive and deft handling by the prime minister.

“Keeping in view his contribution towards peace in the region, PM Imran Khan may be given Nobel Peace Prize,” concluded the resolution.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2019