Saturday, November 19 2005 19:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been chosen for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2005.

This was announced today by Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, who is the Secretary of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust that confers the award, at a function to honour Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn with the same award for 2004 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"The jury met and unanimously decided to confer the 2005 award on the first democratically-elected President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai", Dikshit said in the presence of President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi who also heads the Trust.