Over 100 prominent Indian personalities on Saturday condemned the recent attacks in France and the subsequent statements issued by Muslim religious and political leaders.
“We the undersigned unequivocally and unconditionally condemn the recent killings in France by two fanatics in the name of faith,” read a joint statement. “We are deeply disturbed by the convoluted logic of some self-appointed guardians of Indian Muslims in rationalising cold-blooded murder and deplore the outrageous remarks of some heads of state.”
The signatories include actor Naseeruddin Shah, activist Teesta Setalvad, former Indian Police Service officer Julio Ribeiro, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, screenwriter Anjum Rajabali, lyricist Hussain Haidri, director Kabir Khan and political activist and Swaraj India chief Yoginder Yadav.
The statement said it has become the order of the day for religious groups to “indulge in whataboutery” whenever crimes are committed by those belonging to their religious groups. It condemned the act of rationalising crimes by comparing them with other similar crimes, calling it an irrational and absurd argument.
“No god, gods, goddesses, prophets or saints may be invoked to justify the killing and/or terrorising of fellow human beings” it said.
The statement further said that the signatories stand in solidarity with the French Council for the Muslim Faith, which condemned the attacks in France’s Paris and Nice and issued an appeal to Muslims to cancel the celebration of the birth of Prophet Muhammad, called Eid Milad un Nabi, as a mark of mourning with the victims and their families and friends.
The attacks
In October, two attacks shook France, prompting authorities to raise the security threat level in the country to “emergency”, the maximum one. On Thursday, a knife-wielding attacker killed three people at a church in France’s Nice city.
The assailant was wounded and hospitalised following the attack at the Notre Dame Church. It took place less than a kilometer away from a site in 2016 where another attacker drove a 25-tonne truck into a crowd, killing at least 84 people.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi called the attack an “act of terrorism”. Estrosi said the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar”, meaning God is the greatest, repeatedly. “The meaning of his gesture left no doubt,” he said.
“The methods match, without doubt, those used against the brave teacher in Conflans Sainte Honorine, Samuel Paty,” he said, referring to the killing of a French teacher less than two weeks ago.
On October 16, Paty was beheaded after he showed a caricature of Prophet Muhammad to his students in the class.
French anti-terror prosecutors said the assault took place on the outskirts of Paris near a school in the western suburb of Conflans Saint-Honorine. They said they were treating the incident as “a murder linked to a terrorist organisation” and related to a “criminal association with terrorists”.
The assailant, Abdullakh Anzorov, was gunned down about 600 meters from where the teacher was killed after he did not follow police orders to put down his knife and behaved in a threatening manner, the police said.
The teacher had received threats over “a debate” about the caricatures around 10 days ago, the police said. A parent of one of his pupils had filed a complaint against the teacher, another police official said. French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident an “Islamist attack”, urging citizens to stand up against extremism. The school said Paty had given Muslim children the option of leaving the classroom before he showed the cartoons.
Anger over cartoons
Members of the Muslim community across the world have launched campaigns against French products. Demonstrations were held in Syria, Libya, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among other countries. Many Muslims, in France and abroad, interpret the cartoons as a deeply offensive provocation and see any depiction of the Prophet as blasphemous.
On Thursday, posters deploring French President Emmanuel Macron were pasted all over a street on Muhammad Ali Road in south Mumbai and a street in Vadodra. On the same day, Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Muslims have the right “to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past”. His comment was part of a blog, which was also posted on Twitter. It was later removed from the microblogging site for violating rules. A day later, he said that his remarks were “taken out of context”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday denounced the terror attacks in France, while extending India’s support to the country in the fight against terrorism. On Wednesday, India had criticised the “personal attacks in unacceptable language” by countries like Turkey and Pakistan on the French president.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had criticised Macron earlier this week, saying his defense of the caricatures suggested he “needs treatment on a mental level”. “What’s the problem of the individual called Macron with Islam and with the Muslims,” he asked.
On October 25, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had accused Macron of encouraging anti-Muslim sentiment and creating polarisation in the society. Amid the political barbs, neither Erdogan nor Khan has publicly condemned the killing of the French teacher.
The signatories
1. Abdul Aziz Lokhandwala, Industrialist, Mumbai
2. Abhilasha Kumari, Researcher
3. Ahmad Rashid Sherwani, Hyderabad
4. AJ Jawad, Advocate, mediator, Chennai
5. Akbar Shaikh, Social activist, Sholapur
6. Amar Jesani, Medico Friends Circle, Mumbai
7. Amir Rizvi, Designer, Mumbai
8. Anand Patwardhan, Documentary film maker, Mumbai
9. Anil Dharker, Editor, columnist, writer, Mumbai
10. Anil Hebbar, Social Entrepreneur, Mumbai
11. Anil K Singh, Insaaf, Delhi
12. Anjum Rajabali, Screenwriter, Social Activist, Mumbai
13. Anurag Chaturvedi, journalist, Delhi
14. Anvar Rajan, Social activist, Pune
15. Anwar Hussain, Corporate executive, Mumbai
16. Arshad Alam, Columnist, educationist, Delhi
17. Askari Zaidi, Corporate Communications, Delhi
18. Bilal Khan, Social Activist, Mumbai
19. Bharti Sharma, Mumbai
20. Cedric Prakash, Priest, Ahmedabad
21. Prof Chaman Lal, Rtd Prof JNU, Delhi
22. Charul Joshi, Political activist, Mumbai
23. Chayanika Shah, Queer Feminist Researcher, Mumbai
24. Chhaya Datar, retd professor, feminist activist, Mumbai
25. Danish Javed, Lyricist, writer, producer, Mumbai
26. Dilip D’Souza, Writer, Mumbai
27. Dilip Simeon, Historian, Delhi
28. Dolphy D’Souza, Police Reforms Watch, Mumbai
29. Fahad Ahmad, PhD Scholar, TISS, Mumbai
30. Naseeruddin Shah , Writer-director, Mumbai
31. Feroze Mithiborwala, President, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Mumbai
32. Gauhar Raza, Anhad, Delhi
33. Ghulam Mohiuddin, Physician, PIO, New York
34. Guddi, S.L., Yusuf Meherali Centre, Mumbai
35. Hasan Ibrahim Pasha, Writer, Allahabad
36. Hasan Kamaal, Editor, columnist, poet, Mumbai
37. Hasina Khan, Bebaak Collective, Mumbai
38. Henri Tiphagne, Advocate and human rights defender, Chennai
39. Hussain Haidri, Lyricist, Mumbai
40. Hussain Indorewala, Academic, Mumbai
41. Jamsheed Rizwani, Sete, France
42. Jatin Desai, Journalist, social activist, Mumbai
43. Javed Akhtar, Poet, films, former MP, Mumbai
44. Javed Anand, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), Mumbai
45. John Dayal, Writer, activist, Delhi
46. Joycia Thorat, Ecumenical Activist
47. J.S. Bandukwala, Social Activist, Vadodara
48. Julio F Ribeiro, IPS (retired), Mumbai
49. Jyoti Punwani, Journalist, Mumbai
50. Kabir Khan, Director, Mumbai
51. Kamayani Bali Mahabal
52. Dr K L Sharma, University of Rajasthan
53. Kasim Sait, Businessman, Chennai
54. Kavita Srivastava, Civil liberties & human rights activist, Jaipur
55. Kirtika Singh, Advocate, Allahabad High Court
56. Kishore Jagtap, Dalit activist, Mumbai
57. Krishnakant Chauhan, Environmentalist and Activist
58. Krishnaswamy Kumar, Rtd Prof, Coimbatore
59. Lara Jesani, Advocate, Bombay High Court, Mumbai
60. Mallika Sarabhai, Theatre personality, Ahmedadad
61. Masooma Ranalvi, Co-Founder, India Lead|WeSpeakOut, Delhi
62. Medha Patkar, National Alliance of People’s Movements
63. Mihir Desai, Senior advocate, Bombay High Court
64. Mohammed Arif, Social activist, Varanasi
65. Mohammed Imran, Delhi/New York
66. Dr Mridula Mukherjee, Rtd Prof JNU, Delhi
67. Mukta Srivastav, Social Activist, Thane
68. Muniza Khan, Social activist, Varanasi
69. Mushfiq Khan, Film maker, Mumbai
70. Nandan Maluste, Finance, Mumbai
71. Nandita Bhawnani, Writer, Mumbai
72. Nandita Shah, Feminist activist, Mumbai
73. Naseeruddin Shah, Actor, Mumbai
74. Nasreen Fazalbhoy, Professor (retired), Mumbai
75. Niraja Jayal, JNU, Delhi
76. Noorhehan Safia Niyaz, Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Mumbai
77. Pramod Mujumdar, Social Activist, Mumbai
78. Prashant Bhushan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court, Delhi
79. Qaisar Sultana, Home-maker, Allahabad
80. Dr Ram Puniyani, Author, social activist, Mumbai
81. Dr Ramesh Dixit, Rtd Prof Lucknow University, Lucknow
82. Rohit Prajapati, Environmentalist and human rights defender, Vadodara
83. Sachidanand Sinha, JNU, Delhi
84. Salim Sabuwala, Social activist, Mumbai
85. Sandeep Pandey, Academic, social activist, Lucknow
86. Sandhya Gokhale, Feminist activist, Mumbai
87. Prof. Sanjay MG, National Convenor, National Alliance of People’s Movements, Thane
88. Dr Satya Mohanty, former Secretary, Govt of India
89. Shabana Azmi, Actor, former MP, Mumbai
90. Prof. Shafaat Khan, Marathi Playwright
91. Shameela Zaidi, HR Manager, Mumbai
92. Shikha Sen, Documentary editor
93. Dr Saif Mahmood, Advocate, Supreme Court, Delhi
94. Sajal Mittra, Rtd IAS
95. Selvyn Jussy, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
96. Shama Zaidi, Writer, documentary film maker, Mumbai
97. Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad, Delhi
98. Dr Shahnawaz, Physician, Sultanpur
99. Sitaram Prasad Singh, Theatre artist
100. S N Sahu, former OSD to President of India
101. Simantini Dhuru, Educationist, Mumbai
102. Sohail Hashmi, Writer, film maker, Delhi
103. Subhash Gatade, New Socialist Initiative, Delhi
104. Sucheta Mahajan, Professor JNU, Delhi
105. Sujata Gotaskar, Feminist activist and researcher, Mumbai
106. Sukla Sen, Peace Activist, Mumbai
107. Sumedh Jadhav, President, Republican Panther, Mumbai
108. Suresh Sawant, President, Samvidhan Sanvardhan Samiti
109. Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam, Delhi
110. Dr Sunilam, Leader farmers & workers movement, Indore
111. Dr Suresh Khairnar, Social Activist, Nagpur
112. Swara Bhaskar, Actor, Mumbai
113. Swatija M. Paranjape, Feminist activist, Mumbai
114. Prof. Tahir Mahmood, Legal luminary, Delhi
115. Dr Tarannum Siddiqui, Jamia Millia Islamia, Dehi
116. Teesta Setalvad, Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai
117. T.K. Arun, Consulting editor, The Economic Times
118. Tushar Gandhi, Writer, activist, Mumbai
119. Ujjwala Mhatre, Mumbai
120. Prof Vasanthi Raman, Delhi
121. Veena Gowda, Advocate, Mumbai
122. Vibhuti Narain Rai, IPS (retired), Noida
123. Vimla Chand, Consumer advocate
124. Vijay Krishna Acharya, Director, Mumbai
125. Vishwas Utagi, Economist & Trade Union Leader, Mumbai
126. Yoginder Yadav, Political Activist, Academic, Delhi
127. Dr. Zaheer Ahmed Sayeed, Neuro-surgeon, Chennai
128. Zaman Habib, TV writer-producer, Mumbai
129. Zeenat Lakhani, Screenwriter, Mumbai
130. Zeeshan Ayub, Actor, Mumbai
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