Mumbai, November 21th, 2016: Emotions ran high at the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2016, as heroes Combatting Terrorism were honoured for their contribution to the cause. Hosted on 20th November, Sonam Kapoor, renowned Bollywood actress, accepted award on behalf of Neerja Bhanot.
                                                                                            
Instituted in the year 2005, the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice has acknowledged the tireless efforts of individuals and enterprises across the world towards promoting peace, harmony and social justice.

Sonam Kapoor – renowned Bollywood actor said, “I’m honoured to be here and to receive the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice on behalf of the very brave, courageous and selfless Neerja Bhanot. Its been an absolute prestige and blessing to portray her and I truly believe each one of us must imbibe the values that she stood for and personified.“

Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Abraham Mathai, President Harmony Foundation said, “Over years, our endeavor has been to inspire humanity through the exemplary acts and sacrifices of those among us. And this year’s awardees give me the hope that our mission will be kept alive. With every passing year, we see touching stories of bravery and compassion, and we all pray that the valiant efforts of our heroes to spread the message of peace do not go in vain. Our heroes of this year including 20-year old Pakistani boy Faraaz Hossain reaffirms our faith that bravery and compassion have no age or religion. We sincerely believe that stories such as his will encourage a lot more of us to open our minds.”

The Award ceremony was accompanied by a Conference on Combatting Terrorism which drew views from all the top leaders in attendance.

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About Mother Teresa Memorial International Awards: The Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice which is currently in its 12th year was instituted in the year 2005 in the memory of Mother Teresa who was canonized a Saint by Pope Francis in the Vatican on September 4th 2016 and is the only one endorsed by Sr.Prema, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata. The Harmony Foundation has, in the past, besides Medecines Sans Frontiers who were the latest recipient last year also conferred this prestigious International Award to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan Dr. Sima Samar, former Malaysian prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and deputy speaker of the House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox, besides several others with this award.

About Harmony Foundation: The Harmony Foundation was founded in October 2005 by Dr. Abraham Mathai to establish communal harmony between various communities, castes and work towards the benefit of all the communities without any discrimination as to religion, caste, creed, gender or region. The raison d’etre of this foundation was necessitated by the fact that we are presently living in a very turbulent period in the history of mankind wherein many wicked acts are being perpetrated under the guise of political, economic, religious reasons which have long term implications on the peaceful co-existence of human society. The society today needs peace, tolerance, equality and social justice to function cohesively and to encourage inclusiveness. Considering this practical situation and to make this ideal into a concrete and tangible reality the Harmony Foundation in association with prominent individuals such as Mahesh Bhatt, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Tushar Gandhi hosts the Mother Teresa Memorial International Awards for Social Justice to felicitate selfless and intrepid Individuals who have channeled all of their energies and creativities towards furthering the aims of social justice as to encourage the society to imbibe these virtues of peace which are on integral part in the Constitution of India.