New Delhi: ETV Bharat spoke to exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on what she thinks of the recent terror attack on Salman Rushdie. Rushdie, 75, was taken off a ventilator on Saturday and could talk after he was stabbed on stage at a literary event in the US. Following are the excerpts from the interview.
Question: What is your reaction to the attack on Salman Rushdie, are we as a society moving backwards?
Answer: It is increasing everywhere in the world. People have to be very careful. This has to stop. No one can kill someone just like that.
Q: What should we do to stop this? Slogans like 'Sir Tan Se Juda' (beheading) are being raised in India too.
A: This is happening all over the world. Well, in a place like America where Salman Rushdie has got so much security, (if) it can happen, (then) it can happen anywhere. If there is a check on fundamentalism from growing in the Muslim community, only then such incidents can be stopped. If fundamentalism does not increase, then terrorism will not grow either. However, it will require a lot of work. Because the target of those who want to nurture fundamentalism are boys of 25-26 years. They get brainwashed easily. Religious leaders do this work easily. If it is stopped, all will be well. It is also a fact that 'dangerous (radical) messages' are available over the Internet. Any youth that has access to gets easily radicalised and moves towards terrorism.
Q: Do you think 'madrasas' spread fundamentalism?
A: There are some madrasas instead of educating pread religious poison. Now the government will have to keep an eye on this thing. Government control is necessary on this.
Q: Do you believe that this government (Government of India) has some control over this aspect?
A: I am not talking about this government. I am saying this to governments around the world. Since brainwashing is done through madrasas all over the world, therefore the government of every country should keep an eye on these madrassas,... keep them under their control. Because terrorism is an idea, it can be ended this way. Terrorism will never end by killing a terrorist. That idea has to be abolished and that can be achieved... possibly by controlling madrassas. Terrorism is contagious, it is such an idea, which reaches from one person to another and in this way it goes on, spreads.
Q: When we talk about terrorism, why do we always stop at Islam?
A: Actually Islam did not reform... did not evolve, no critical scrutiny is possible in it. If we talk of any kind of reform, we are killed. So if the criticism is not possible for any reform, then how can there be a talk of equality between men and women? Religious laws should be based on human rights and justice. If anyone talks about these reforms, then communal forces come to kill him/her. The government will never stop them. The governments of Muslim countries use religion to further their political interests. That is why Muslim countries never tried to separate state and religion. No attempt is ever made to introduce modern laws in these countries. They follow the law of the seventh century and the governments never even try to change it because they have to make political use of those religious laws. So Islam is no longer just Islam, it has become 'Political Islam' and this change is very dangerous. They need blood to keep their religion alive.
Q: Do you consider the attack on Salman Rushdie as an attack on the entire fraternity?
A: Not all writers are attacked. Writers who want to reform Islam... to make it evolve... are being attacked. A fatwa was issued to kill me too, a reward was also placed on my head. So not all writers, but some are at risk. Celebrations rocked in some Muslim countries over Rushdie's attack. Thats bad. Pakistan's far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik' leader Saad Rizvi says "we have done Salman's, now Taslima will have to be killed." About 20 lakh people of Pakistan heard this statement of his. Since then, I have been receiving threats to kill me on Twitter again. I'm being told that the next number is mine. Salman Rushdie lives mostly in western countries and under full police protection, so he survived. Most writers who want to reform Islam or make it a modern-minded modern Islam are at great risk because they have no police protection and can easily become targets of fundamentalists. That is why it is necessary to protect those who believe in freedom of expression and are targeted for their ideology toward Islam.
Q: Such threats were being issued in India against Nupur Sharma. What is your reaction to that?
A: Look, there were many attacks on me and several threats to kill me were circulated. Those who talk about reforming Islam are targeted more. The same is happening in the case of Nupur Sharma as well. The way these people killed Kanhaiya in Udaipur, it is very dangerous. Is their religion so weak, so delicate that others have to be killed to save it? This proves that their religion is not strong. This is not good for Islam as a religion.
Q: Would you like to give any message to Salman Rushdie?
A: I am opposed to this kind of violence. I have always been opposed to violence. Ever since this all started.
