He made this observation during his lecture here on "The Nobel Peace Prize; Historical Record and Political Accomplishments" at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS). Prominent Saudi personalities and diplomats attended the event, which was presided over by KFIP’s secretary-general, Abdullah Saleh Al-Othaimeen.

Speaking on the award criteria, Prof Lundestad said there are three criteria. "Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who has done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

The recipient is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a 5-member committee appointed by the Parliament of Norway, "but we are completely independent in our decision," he added.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature.

Answering a question on the abiding interest in Nobel Prize, he said they have been doing this for the last 111 years, elevating it to level of the most prestigious award in the world. "This why the world is so interested in the Nobel Prize, especially the media. Whenever we announce the winners, the media all over the world would come to cover not only the event they would knock at the door of the winners once we announce their names as winners."

He added: "We have a long historical record. Secondly we belong to a family where we have joint finances, joint principle. But then, each category of the prize is independent from the other. I am for Peace Prize, although I am the permanent secretary-general. I don't have the voting power or influence on the other."

He added, we do not claim to have a perfect record because we do not have that record. We have made a serious mistake. We confess that at least we made one huge omission. He was referring to M.K. Gandhi, the founder of free India, who never got the Nobel Prize for peace in spite of sacrificing his life for the cause of peace.

The committee decided to give him Nobel Prize in 1948, but he was assassinated. He could still have won the Prize posthumously as others did. The change in the system regarding declaration of posthumous award came about only in 1961. Earlier, the committee had decided that the Nobel Prize would not be awarded to a person who is not living. “I considered it as a big omission from our part. But in an exceptional case we awarded the prize to a dead winner last year.”

Lundestad said that despite their mistake the Nobel Prize still remains as the most prestigious award in the world. “Our record is solid and respectable but it is not perfect. As much as 60 percent of the world population lives in Asia, so more winners are expected from Asia.”

The Nobel Prize Committee has given the prize to six Muslims so far, including two Egyptians, Naguib Mahfouz who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, and Professor Ahmed H. Zewail who was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in1994 jointly with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to promote peace in the Middle East". Among the other winners were Shirin Ebadi from Iran, Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh in 2006, and Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni woman, on Dec. 10, 2011.