Over 100 outstanding Indian personalities on Saturday condemned the latest assaults in France and the following statements issued by Muslim non secular and political leaders.
“We the undersigned unequivocally and unconditionally condemn the latest killings in France by two fanatics within the title of religion,” learn a joint assertion. “We’re deeply disturbed by the convoluted logic of some self-appointed guardians of Indian Muslims in rationalising cold-blooded homicide and deplore the outrageous remarks of some heads of state.”
The signatories embrace 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 assertion stated it has develop into the order of the day for non secular teams to “take pleasure in whataboutery” at any time when crimes are dedicated by these belonging to their non secular teams. It condemned the act of rationalising crimes by evaluating them with different related crimes, calling it an irrational and absurd argument.
“No god, gods, goddesses, prophets or saints could also be invoked to justify the killing and/or terrorising of fellow human beings” it stated.
The assertion additional stated that the signatories stand in solidarity with the French Council for the Muslim Religion, which condemned the assaults in France’s Paris and Good and issued an attraction to Muslims to cancel the celebration of the beginning of Prophet Muhammad, known as Eid Milad un Nabi, as a mark of mourning with the victims and their households and buddies.
The assaults
In October, two assaults shook France, prompting authorities to lift the safety menace stage within the nation to “emergency”, the utmost one. On Thursday, a knife-wielding attacker killed three people at a church in France’s Good metropolis.
The assailant was wounded and hospitalised following the assault on the Notre Dame Church. It occurred lower than a kilometer away from a web site in 2016 the place one other attacker drove a 25-tonne truck right into a crowd, killing no less than 84 individuals.
Good Mayor Christian Estrosi known as the assault an “act of terrorism”. Estrosi stated the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar”, that means God is the best, repeatedly. “The that means of his gesture left little doubt,” he stated.
“The strategies match, doubtless, these used in opposition to the courageous trainer in Conflans Sainte Honorine, Samuel Paty,” he stated, referring to the killing of a French teacher lower than two weeks in the past.
On October 16, Paty was beheaded after he confirmed a caricature of Prophet Muhammad to his college students within the class.
French anti-terror prosecutors stated the assault occurred on the outskirts of Paris close to a faculty within the western suburb of Conflans Saint-Honorine. They stated they had been treating the incident as “a homicide linked to a terrorist organisation” and associated to a “felony affiliation with terrorists”.
The assailant, Abdullakh Anzorov, was gunned down about 600 meters from the place the trainer was killed after he didn’t observe police orders to place down his knife and behaved in a threatening method, the police stated.
The trainer had obtained threats over “a debate” concerning the caricatures round 10 days in the past, the police stated. A guardian of one among his pupils had filed a criticism in opposition to the trainer, one other police official stated. French President Emmanuel Macron known as the incident an “Islamist assault”, urging residents to face up in opposition to extremism. The college stated Paty had given Muslim kids the choice of leaving the classroom earlier than he confirmed the cartoons.
Anger over cartoons
Members of the Muslim neighborhood internationally have launched campaigns in opposition to French merchandise. Demonstrations had been held in Syria, Libya, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, amongst different nations. Many Muslims, in France and overseas, 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 had been pasted throughout a road on Muhammad Ali Street in south Mumbai and a road in Vadodra. On the identical day, Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad stated Muslims have the appropriate “to be offended and to kill hundreds of thousands of French individuals for the massacres of the previous”. His remark was a part of a weblog, which was additionally posted on Twitter. It was later faraway from the microblogging web site for violating guidelines. A day later, he stated that his remarks had been “taken out of context”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday denounced the terror attacks in France, whereas extending India’s help to the nation within the battle in opposition to terrorism. On Wednesday, India had criticised the “personal attacks in unacceptable language” by nations like Turkey and Pakistan on the French president.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had criticised Macron earlier this week, saying his protection of the caricatures steered he “wants therapy on a psychological stage”. “What’s the issue of the person known as Macron with Islam and with the Muslims,” he requested.
On October 25, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had accused Macron of encouraging anti-Muslim sentiment and creating polarisation within the society. Amid the political barbs, neither Erdogan nor Khan has publicly condemned the killing of the French trainer.
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 Pals Circle, Mumbai
7. Amir Rizvi, Designer, Mumbai
8. Anand Patwardhan, Documentary movie maker, Mumbai
9. Anil Dharker, Editor, columnist, author, Mumbai
10. Anil Hebbar, Social Entrepreneur, Mumbai
11. Anil Ok Singh, Insaaf, Delhi
12. Anjum Rajabali, Screenwriter, Social Activist, Mumbai
13. Anurag Chaturvedi, journalist, Delhi
14. Anvar Rajan, Social activist, Pune
15. Anwar Hussain, Company govt, Mumbai
16. Arshad Alam, Columnist, educationist, Delhi
17. Askari Zaidi, Company 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, author, producer, Mumbai
26. Dilip D’Souza, Author, Mumbai
27. Dilip Simeon, Historian, Delhi
28. Dolphy D’Souza, Police Reforms Watch, Mumbai
29. Fahad Ahmad, PhD Scholar, TISS, Mumbai
30. Naseeruddin Shah , Author-director, Mumbai
31. Feroze Mithiborwala, President, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Mumbai
32. Gauhar Raza, Anhad, Delhi
33. Ghulam Mohiuddin, Doctor, PIO, New York
34. Guddi, S.L., Yusuf Meherali Centre, Mumbai
35. Hasan Ibrahim Pasha, Author, 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, Educational, Mumbai
41. Jamsheed Rizwani, Sete, France
42. Jatin Desai, Journalist, social activist, Mumbai
43. Javed Akhtar, Poet, movies, former MP, Mumbai
44. Javed Anand, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), Mumbai
45. John Dayal, Author, 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 Ok L Sharma, College of Rajasthan
53. Kasim Sait, Businessman, Chennai
54. Kavita Srivastava, Civil liberties & human rights activist, Jaipur
55. Kirtika Singh, Advocate, Allahabad Excessive Court docket
56. Kishore Jagtap, Dalit activist, Mumbai
57. Krishnakant Chauhan, Environmentalist and Activist
58. Krishnaswamy Kumar, Rtd Prof, Coimbatore
59. Lara Jesani, Advocate, Bombay Excessive Court docket, Mumbai
60. Mallika Sarabhai, Theatre persona, Ahmedadad
61. Masooma Ranalvi, Co-Founder, India Lead|WeSpeakOut, Delhi
62. Medha Patkar, Nationwide Alliance of Folks’s Actions
63. Mihir Desai, Senior advocate, Bombay Excessive Court docket
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, Movie maker, Mumbai
70. Nandan Maluste, Finance, Mumbai
71. Nandita Bhawnani, Author, 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 docket, Delhi
79. Qaisar Sultana, House-maker, Allahabad
80. Dr Ram Puniyani, Writer, social activist, Mumbai
81. Dr Ramesh Dixit, Rtd Prof Lucknow College, Lucknow
82. Rohit Prajapati, Environmentalist and human rights defender, Vadodara
83. Sachidanand Sinha, JNU, Delhi
84. Salim Sabuwala, Social activist, Mumbai
85. Sandeep Pandey, Educational, social activist, Lucknow
86. Sandhya Gokhale, Feminist activist, Mumbai
87. Prof. Sanjay MG, Nationwide Convenor, Nationwide Alliance of Folks’s Actions, 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 Supervisor, Mumbai
92. Shikha Sen, Documentary editor
93. Dr Saif Mahmood, Advocate, Supreme Court docket, Delhi
94. Sajal Mittra, Rtd IAS
95. Selvyn Jussy, College of Calcutta, Kolkata
96. Shama Zaidi, Author, documentary movie maker, Mumbai
97. Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad, Delhi
98. Dr Shahnawaz, Doctor, 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, Author, movie 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, Chief farmers & employees motion, Indore
111. Dr Suresh Khairnar, Social Activist, Nagpur
112. Swara Bhaskar, Actor, Mumbai
113. Swatija M. Paranjape, Feminist activist, Mumbai
114. Prof. Tahir Mahmood, Authorized luminary, Delhi
115. Dr Tarannum Siddiqui, Jamia Millia Islamia, Dehi
116. Teesta Setalvad, Residents for Justice and Peace, Mumbai
117. T.Ok. Arun, Consulting editor, The Financial Instances
118. Tushar Gandhi, Author, 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, Shopper advocate
124. Vijay Krishna Acharya, Director, Mumbai
125. Vishwas Utagi, Economist & Commerce Union Chief, Mumbai
126. Yoginder Yadav, Political Activist, Educational, 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