Chautauqua Stabbing: India Condemns Attack on Salman Rushdie

New Delhi: India on Thursday condemned the ‘horrific attack’ on the renowned author Salman Rushdie and wished him a speedy recovery.

‘India has always stood against violence and extremism. We condemn the horrific attack on Salman Rushdie and we wish him a speedy recovery,’ External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at his weekly media briefing.

75-year-old Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and torso at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on August 12. Henry Reese, the interviewer, also suffered a head injury in the attack. A 24-year-old man, Hadi Matar, was identified as the alleged attacker.

Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie has told the New York Times that “the news is not good, Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

India condemns attack on Salman Rushdie, and wish him speedy recovery. pic.twitter.com/NLwYzqe4pv

— Abhishek Jha (@abhishekjha157) August 25, 2022

The horrendous attack on Rushdie was condemned globally and many world leaders showed their support to the celebrated author. France, UK and US were among the countries that condemned the attack. France President Emmanuel Macron said Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. While the caretaker British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Rushdie was attacked while exercising a right that should always be defended.

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Earlier, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while referring to the international condemnation of the attack on Salman Rushdie, had said the world has noticed and reacted to the incident.

“I also read about it. This is something that the whole world has noticed and the whole world has reacted to such an attack,” Jaishankar told the media in Bengaluru.

(With PTI inputs)