Muskan's father distances himself from Zawahiri's comments

Mohammed Hussein Khan, the father of Karnataka college student Muskan Khan, distanced himself from Zawahiri's comments, terming them as "wrong" and said he and his family were living peacefully in India.

Mandya (Karnataka):Muskan Khan's father Mohammed Hussein Khan has expressed shock and distanced himself from Zawahiri's comments. "We don't know anything about it (video), we don't know who he is. I saw him today for the first time. He has said something in Arabic... We are all living here with love and trust like brothers," Khan told reporters in Mandya.

Asked about Zawahiri praising Muskan, he said, "People say whatever they want... This is unnecessarily causing trouble. We are living peacefully in our country, we don't want him to talk about us, as he is not related to us... it is wrong, it is an attempt to create division among us." Observing that Muskan too has seen the video, Khan said whatever Zawahiri has said is 'wrong.'"... She (Muskan) is still a student, she wants to study," he said. On being asked about demands from a section of people for an inquiry to find any links, Khan said let it be done, there is law, police and government for it.

Khan further added that if the Karnataka government and police want to enquire about them, they can find out the truth themselves. When Zawahiri praised the Hijab row's face Muskan, Khan said that " I am not aware of the militant organizations behind the hijab. I do not know who or what they are doing. We live here happily and lead our life peacefully in our country. We shared our love and live like brothers. God put us well. I don't know what the other countries are doing? Moreover, all those who came to give gifts I said them not to give, by this, we are facing trouble. After the fasting of Ramazan, I give an ambulance service to the people."

"I asked the college principal to give us a separate room during the examination. If no permission for a hijab is given then give permission to wear a shawl and allow them to sit for the examination. But the college administration did not allow that," Khan added.

When the hijab row was at its height in February, Muskan Khan, a second-year BCom student in Mandya was troubled by a group of students, wearing a saffron shawl, for entering the college with a hijab. They chanted loudly “Jai Shri Ram”, Muskan retorted by shouting “Allah-hu-Akbar.” Following this heated war of words, the college authorities intervened and brought the situation under control.

In the video clip in Arabic with English subtitles provided by SITE Intelligence Group that tracks the online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organisations, Zawahiri also reads out a poem that he says he wrote for "our Mujahid sister" and for her "brave feat". "May Allah reward her for exposing the reality of Hindu India and the deception of its pagan democracy," he said in the video. "... We must shake off the delusions that confound us... we must stop being deceived by the mirage of the pagan Hindu democracy of India, which, to begin with, was never more than a tool to oppress Muslims," said Zawahiri, one of the world's most wanted terrorists. Addressing the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent, he said they must realise that in the real world there is no such thing as 'human rights' or 'respect of the Constitution' or 'law'.

After Zawahiri resurfaced himself in a nine-minute video released by As-Sahab media on Tuesday, he brushed off the rumours about his death in 2020. He even slammed Pakistan and Bangladesh for being ‘allies of the West’ for banning the Hijab.

with PTI inputs