Two weeks after Rushdie’s stabbing, India reacts: Horrific, wish him a speedy recovery
India on Thursday condemned the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, describing it as “horrific”, its first official reaction that comes nearly two weeks after the incident in New York.
India has always stood against violence and extremism. “We condemn the horrific attack on Salman Rushdie and we wish him a speedy recovery,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in response to questions at a weekly briefing.
While the attack on Rushdie sparked global outrage, India remained silent.
India was among the first countries to ban his novel, The Satanic Verses, after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death after its publication.
Rushdie, 75, was stabbed to death in New York on August 12.
His agent, Andrew Wyllie, said his liver was damaged and nerves in an arm and an eye were broken. Rushdie was likely to lose his injured eye.
His attacker, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty through his lawyer to the charges stemming from the assault.
An Iranian government official denied Tehran was involved in the attack, although he justified the stabbing.
