Tawakkol Karman Addresses Fifth Jagjivan Ram Memorial Lecture

Yemenese Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman said only a peaceful revolution could finish authoritarian rule in the Arab world. “Every dictator is a terrorist. Both feed on each other. Only a peaceful revolution can finish them,” said Karman while delivering the fifth Babu Jagjivan Ram memorial lecture in the Capital. Karman, 33, won the Nobel peace prize in 2011 and is the youngest recipient of the prestigious award. Noting that all sections of society participated in the Arab spring, Karman said the new government in Yemen would provide equal citizenship to all. She also appealed to the international community to exert pressure on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as people in Syria were looking for equal citizenship. “We were made to believe that these rulers would remain in power and it would be difficult to remove them from power,” she said adding that the peaceful protests in the Arab world emanated due to internal conditions and not external factors, as claimed by the regimes. “Imposing reform from outside is not practical,” said Karman.