‘Spend on people, not bombs’

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has one antidote for the world’s ills: “Spend on people, not on atomic bombs.”

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has one antidote for the world’s ills: “Spend on people, not on atomic bombs.” The only Iranian to win a Nobel prize, Ebadi was in the city in connection with a book release function organised by a Kolkata-based NGO.

“Be it Iran, Pakistan or India, there is no need for an atom bomb,” she says. “The bomb hasn’t made any country more secure. It has only made people more insecure.”

“Governments all over the world excuse themselves from spending on their people citing fund scarcity. But when it comes to spending on arms and ammunition, they don’t have any cash scarcity,” Ebadi says, adding that it’s time for a paradigm shift in the attitudes of governments.

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Defining herself as “a person who is beyond the confines of any government”, Ebadi urged people across the borders to work for the betterment of humanity as a whole.

Ebadi feels the plight of women is the same everywhere. “In Arab countries she is forced to wear a hijab, whereas in countries like France she is being asked to stop wearing it. When will she get the freedom to choose her own life?”

Ebadi is expected to visit Irom Sharmila, the Manipuri activist who has been fasting for the past seven years to press for repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, at AIIMS tomorrow.

Planning Board member Syeda Hameed, who also spoke at the function, said there will be special provision in the Eleventh Plan to tackle women’s issues. “No Ministry will complain about lack of funds for spending on women’s upliftment any more,” she added.