World Has Noticed, Reacted To Attack On Salman Rushdie: S Jaishankar

S Jaishankar was responding to a query on the attack on Salman Rushdie. (File)

Bengaluru:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday referred to the international condemnation of the attack on renowned author Salman Rushdie and 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,” Mr Jaishankar told the media in Bengaluru.

He was responding to a query on the attack on Mr Rushdie.

France, UK and US are among the countries that have condemned the attack.

France President Emmanuel Macron said Mr Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism.

Macron said Mr Rushdie’s “fight is our fight” and “now more than ever, we stand by his side”.

“For 33 years, Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. He has just been the victim of a cowardly attack by the forces of hatred and barbarism. His fight is our fight; it is universal. Now more than ever, we stand by his side,” Macron said in a tweet.

Caretaker British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Mr Rushdie was attacked while exercising a right that should always be defended.

“Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay,” he said in a tweet.

Mr Rushdie was on a ventilator and is likely to lose an eye after he underwent surgery following an attack at a literary event in New York state.

Rushdie, who had received death threats from Iran for his late eighties book ‘The Satanic Verses’, was “stabbed” at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen onstage at a lecture in western New York state on Friday morning.

Mr Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, sent an update on his condition shortly before 7 pm on Friday, saying the author was on a ventilator and cannot speak.

“The news is not good,” he said adding “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

Earlier, New York State Police identified the suspect, who attacked Salman Rushdie, as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey while the motive behind the act is still unknown.

The White House on Saturday termed the attack on Salman Rushdie as “appalling” and said that the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Administration is praying for a speedy recovery of the renowned author.

In a statement, National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan said the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. “This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris administration are praying for his speedy recovery.”

“We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing,” NSA Sullivan said.

US Senator Chuck Schumer said the attack is shocking and appalling.

“It is an attack on freedom of speech and thought, which are two bedrock values of our country and of the Chautauqua Institution. I hope Rushdie quickly and fully recovers and the perpetrator experiences full accountability and justice,” he said in a tweet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)