All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Farhab Zuberi and Congress leader Arif Masood made controversial remarks while staging a protest against French President Emmanuel Macron over the caricature of the Prophet Mohammed published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
While staging a protest against Macron, AIMIM leader Zuberi was heard saying: “Won’t tolerate if anyone does wrong to our creator. Insult to Prophet justified as freedom of expression. If anyone commits blasphemy we will behead him.”
He was protesting against French presidents’ decision to defend France’s freedom of speech laws in the wake of the October 16 killing of teacher Samuel Paty by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee. Notably, Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures of Prophet Muhammad to students in a class discussion on free speech in France.
Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Arif Masood, who been arrested for staging a protest against Macron in Bhopal last week, had hit out at the French president saying, “Can smash Macron’s face for insulting Prophet”.
#IndiaVsIslamistTerror | Watch: Statements that sparked controversy made by Congress MLA Arif Masoos & AIMIM leader Farhab Zuberi over the attacks in France. | India Upfront with Rahul Shivshankar. pic.twitter.com/o6xSNBX4E6
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 2, 2020
Masood and 49 others were arrested on Sunday and later released on bail. The Congress MLA, Muslim religious leaders and several members of the community had staged a protest at Iqbal Maidan against Macron over the cartoon controversy.
Ever since Macron ‘promised a tough new campaign against Islamist radicalism in France’ following the beheading of the teacher, huge protests have been reported from Muslim-dominated countries.
In India, anti-France protests have also been reported in many parts of the country in the last few days.
Following the beheading on the teacher, France was again shocked after a knife attack inside a cathedral in Nice, France on October 29. Three people were killed and several others were injured in the incident which was termed as “Islamist terrorist attack” by Macron.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed solidarity with France after series of ‘terror’ incidents in the recent months.
In an apparent bid to reach out to Muslims, Macon in an interview to Qatar-based Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera tried to send a message of understanding to Muslims around the world.
“I can understand that people could be shocked by the caricatures, but I will never accept that violence can be justified,” he said during the interview.
“I understand the feelings that this arouses, I respect them. But I want you to understand the role that I have. My role is to calm things down, as I am doing here, but at the same time it is to protect these rights.”
“I will always defend in my country the freedom to speak, to write, to think, to draw,” the French president asserted.
Source: Times Now
