On 29 October, Faisal Khan entered a Hindu temple to offer his afternoon namaaz. Khan, a social activist, is the Chief of Khudai Khidmatgar, an organisation and movement devoted to interfaith harmony and peace. This movement was launched by freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (also known as Frontier Gandhi) in 1929, and revived by Faisal Khan in 2011.
On 3 November, Faisal Khan was arrested from Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area and sent to 14-day judicial custody.
Now, Indian-Americans have come together to protest Khan's arrest.
Sunita Viswanath of Hindus for Human Rights laid out the simple facts of the case: “Faisal Khan is a Muslim Gandhian peace activist. He was arrested because he did namaz, which means Muslim prayer, in the courtyard of a Hindu temple. The truth is that the priest invited him to pray there, but four days later the same priest filed a police complaint against Faisal Khan and he was arrested.”
“In a robust democracy, people like Faisal Khan are feted, not imprisoned. He is a prisoner of conscience. We demand his immediate freedom.”Minhaj Khan, Indian-American Muslim Council
Rajmohan Gandhi, Biographer, Scholar and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, delivered an impassioned statement for Faisal Khan, who is a close friend of his.
He talked about the history of Khudai Kidmatgar and the role Faisal Khan is playing in reviving this movement for interfaith peace and harmony.
“There are around 200 million Muslims living in India. Making 200 million Indians feel uncertain about safety or equal rights in their country is not the recipe for a harmonious future. Most Hindus would like their Muslim brothers and sisters to enjoy dignity and equality. I urge them to speak out and demand justice for Faisal Khan, and for all who are being denied their rights", he said in a statement.
"It is unfortunate that today we should be talking about ‘Hindus’ for human rights and ‘Muslims’ for human rights, etc. Such is the scale of human rights violations by the Indian government in every facet of our society and in every aspect of our lives", Medha Patkar said from the frontlines of the farmer's protest taking place in New Delhi.
"What we are living through today is much worse than in 1975 when it was a declared Emergency and we knew what we were up against. Today this is an undeclared Emergency: The people who run the country are not only the people in parliament. They are the people who have the big money in our country, they control every institution", said Anand Patwardhan, Indian documentary filmmaker who has been previously vocal about Khan's arrest.
The press conference was organised by Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), and Amnesty International USA (AIUSA).
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