To: Director, Norwegian Nobel
Institute
Sunday, February 22,
2003
Dear Dr Lundestad,
We have corresponded
previously on the matter of Sathya Sai Baba, the South Indian guru, India's most famous
religious teacher. At that time, I referred you to Interpol, the FBI and
other law enforcement agencies and foreign ministries, as well as to UNESCO and some other
resources which have a considerable wealth of material about Sathya Sai Baba
and his accomplices. These include allegations from many parts of the
world accusing him of a vast scale serial homo-paedophilia and other serious crimes.
Indeed, in Norway many
have just viewed the shocking revelations about Sathya Sai Baba from Danish
Broadcasting. Øjvind Kyrø's
fifty-minute documentary "Seduced" was shown twice on Norwegian
national television (NRK 1, Saturday 8/2/02 and NRK 2, Friday 14/2/02).
At the time I wrote to
you, leaders in various official Sai Baba centres round the world had told
the Sai Baba cult's congregations that he was on a list of candidates to receive the
Nobel Peace Prize.
You
replied that the policy of the Nobel Peace Prize Institute is never to
issue any such list, either before or after the winners of the Peace Prize are
announced. The names of Nobel Prize recipients are announced, while the
names of failed candidates are not revealed.
However, I request you
to read the article below, which would impugn an
Institute regarded universally as the acme of integrity, and the
pre-eminent cultural flagship of Norway to the world. I do trust
that you will be well able to refute the press account (see below) and assure
that no so-called ‘non-official' or any other sources of
the Norwegian Nobel Institute, have leaked to the press the names of any of this
year's candidates?
Your
own name (although misspelt) is mentioned as the source of some numerical
statistics, but no denial from you of such leaks is reported.
I shall be glad if you can
kindly clarify the matter for me, since I accepted your earlier replies in all
good faith.
Yours faithfully,
Barry Pittard, Australia
Below is the article in Spanish at www.ZENIT.org with an
admittedly fast translation by a friend of mine.
Juan Pablo II candidato al Nobel de Paz
ROMA, 19 febrero 2003 (ZENIT.org).-
Juan Pablo II se encuentra entre los candidatos a recibir el Premio Nobel de la Paz 2003,
según fuentes no oficiales del Instituto Nobel noruego.
John Paul II is among
the candidates to recive the Nobel Peace Prize 2003, according to non-official sources of
the Norwegian Nobel Institute
«Tenemos un total de 150 nominados hasta
ahora, de los cuales 21 son organizaciones», reveló este martes el director del
Instituto Noruego Nobel, Geir Lundestad, después de haber hecho el recuento de una lista
que incluye las propuestas enviadas hasta la fecha límite del 1 de febrero.
"We
have a total of 150 nominated up to now, of which 21 are organizations" revealed
this past Tuesday the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestag, after
counting a list that included the suggestions that were sent up to the deadline of
February 1st. (B.Pittard's note: Please
note the misspelling of Dr Lundestad's name).
Según Lundestad la lista definitiva podría alcanzar el récord de 156 candidatos, que
registraron las nominaciones para el premio del 2002, pues los cinco miembros del Comité
de premiación pueden proponer más nombres cuando se reúnan el 25 de febrero.
According
to Lundestad the final list could reach the record high of 156 candidates that were
registered nominations for 2002, since the five members of the award committee could make
further proposals when they meet on Feb. 25
Si bien no se ha confirmado, en la lista de candidatos, además de Juan Pablo II, en una
lista filtrada a la pre nsa de los candidatos se encuentra el disidente cubano Oswaldo
Payá, el ex gobernador del estado norteamericano de Illinois, George Ryan, que concedió
un indulto a condenados a muerte, y Bono, cantante del grupo irlandés U2.
Although it is not
confirmed, on the list of candidates, aside from John Paul II, in a list that leaked to
the press appear the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, the ex governor of the USA State of
Illinois, George Ryan, who pardoned the prisoners who were condemned to death, and
Bono, the singer from the Irish group U2.
Dr Geir Lundestad-Barry Pittard Exchange
Topic: Dr
Geir Lundestad-Barry Pittard Exchange
Posted: Barry
Pittard, Australia
Email: bpittard@beachaccess.com.au
Sent to: www.exbaba.com
Monday, February 24, 2003
Reference: Dr
Lundestad's email: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 18:26:22
Note: Dr Geir Lundestad, Director of
the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize, has replied to my email to him with amazing speed and
astounding brevity.
Here is Dr Lundestad's email:
Barry Pitard,
I can assure you that if I
had leaked the list the names would have been somewhat different from the ones you read in
the press.
Geir Lundestad
His reply is delightful, so I shall
have to find a delightful way of telling him that no-one says that HE leaked,
but would simply query whether there has been a leak, and what may be
the "unofficial sources" from within the Nobel Institute that the www.ZENIT.org article
refers to.
The relevant paragraph in my email to him (posted earlier
today on www.exbaba.com)
that Dr Lundestad so neatly, if so delightfully, sidesteps is:
I request you to read the article
below, which would impugn an Institute regarded universally as
the acme of integrity, and the pre-eminent cultural flagship of Norway to
the world. I do trust that you will be well able to refute the press
account (see below) and assure that no so-called ‘non-official' or any other sources of the Norwegian Nobel Institute,
have leaked to the press the names of any of this year's candidates?
It is almost unimaginable that Dr Lundestad leaked, unless in a sparkling
stream of humor. Who then dunnit?
If the humor inherent in his note had been applied a couple
of years back when he and I exchanged, the rest of us would have been able
to deduce that Sathya Sai Baba's name probably wasn't included.
Too bad it is, then - as we may deduce from Dr Lundestad's witty
reply to me - for those delightfully likely non-starters: Pope John Paul
11, Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, ex governor of Illinois, George
Ryan, and Bono of U2. (All of whom are probably dying for a leak!).
As for Sathya Sai Baba, if there are any other humorists at the
Nobel Institute, then any attempt by the likes of A.B. Vajpayee to put their fuzzy little
boy up as a candidate would simply cause a delightful, if discreet, non-leaking,
non-official official cackle ...!
Barry Pittard Email: bpittard@beachaccess.com.au