Malala, Kailash and the Nobel politics

Congratulations to Malala Yusafzai and Kailash Satyarthi on being chosen as the Nobel Peace prize winners for 2014. Their cause is greater than their personae but what they represent is certainly worthy of such attention-achieving rewards. Of course there is politics involved in the prize giving but no matter what, it will make the causes and issues they work for better-known and that will help the unseen and the unknown sufferers far more than the usual anti-Western anger we see every time this prize is awarded to an Asian or an African.

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Few are talking about Kailash as he is an unknown figure and it's Malala who is getting all the interest. It's true that she is not only close to the West but in some ways is its product. She was a blog writer for the BBC which offered no protection to her when she worked for them and its only after she was shot did the West wake up. After her visit to the West she did become part of the Western propaganda machine but her strong voice was heard in many places. While it's of course true that the West used and is using her, her cause doesn't belong to the West. It is an universal cause and that is what we should support. Malala's victory is ours too. Her cozying up to the West is not to everyone's liking considering the very forces that shot her was largely a Western creation.

Western sympathy for Malala has more to do with the anxiety of the extremist Islamic forces than girls education, some say, but the difficulties that girl children face in going to school is already slightly less after Malala arrived on the scene. Let's be thankful for what we have got.

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A far less known person who shares the Nobel Prize this year is Kailash Satyarthi of India who has been working for child rights for long. The 60-year-old children's rights campaigner was recognised for his battle against child trafficking with 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan' – Save the Childhood Movement – a group he founded in 1980 after quitting his job as an electrical engineer. Satyarthi estimates that 60 million children in India, or 6 percent of the population, are forced into work.

According to him, this has nothing to do with parental poverty, illiteracy or ignorance. Above all, children are enslaved because employers benefit by getting their labour for free or for a pittance.

Satyarthi has dedicated the Peace Prize to these children. "It's an honor to all those children who are still suffering in slavery, bonded labour and trafficking."

Over many years, Satyarthi has taken his campaign to the streets of India. Police recently rescued over 60 children and arrested suspected child traffickers at Old Delhi railway station, acting on a tipoff from Satyarthi. Some 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labour, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitude, a global index on modern slavery showed in October last year.

Almost half are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labour in quarries and kilns to domestic work and commercial sex exploitation.

"It's not just about India, it's a crime against humanity if a child is deprived of childhood – in my country or any country in the world. Humanity is at stake."

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It's very good that Kailash Satyarthi has also congratulated Malala and expressed his hope of working together.

"Beside our fight against child slavery and against the menace of illiteracy on the subcontinent and globally, we hope both of us will be able to fight for peace. I will talk to Malala soon. I know her, and I will invite her to join hands to establish peace for our subcontinent – which is a must for children, which is a must for every Indian, for every Pakistani, for every citizen of the world."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has taken a tough line on Pakistan since his general election victory in May, also congratulated Satyarthi.

Modi said: "Kailash Satyarthi has devoted his life to a cause that is extremely relevant to entire humankind. I salute his determined efforts."

He also described Malala's life as "a journey of immense grit and courage".

That shows that the Nobel Prize can bring even India and Pakistan closer.

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The Nobel Prize will always be a political one particularly in the Peace category. The science prizes are for achievements already made but the Peace Nobel has many purposes. Drawing attention to causes or encouraging players to do some more are part of the considerations. In some cases it works, in other cases it fails as it did in case of Obama. But Malala is no politician in the conventional sense and Kailash is a field level worker. They are down-to-earth people who have much left to do; so let's cheer them on. Their victory is also ours and for once let's forget our usual small-minded attitudes and hail the heroes that they are.

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In conclusion, let's not just cheer the two great personalities but also hope that we can establish a Prize of similar stature for Asians and Africans. And we do need to rise to that level of maturity collectively whereby we don't criticise when one of our own wins the prize but we think no one else deserves a prize except our political leaders.

For the moment let's rejoice this great and rare South Asian achievement.