Faisal Khan was on a mission to spread communal harmony. But he landed in trouble a few days after a visit to a temple in Uttar Pradesh. Activists from India and abroad appealed for his release.
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00:00Faizul has been victimized because he's a Muslim.
00:03He was really a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity.
00:31And I know him as a strong young activist
00:37who is absolutely for non-violence
00:40and that he wants to achieve through the interfaith practices.
01:01Faizul has been victimized because he's a Muslim.
01:05He was really a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity.
01:09And I know him as a strong young activist
01:13who is absolutely for non-violence
01:16and that he wants to achieve through the interfaith practices.
01:30The Khudai Khidmat Gahs were at the front line of this battle
01:35using non-violent struggle against bullets.
01:42I'm not saying that today Faizul Khan and his Khudai Khidmat Gahs are facing bullets,
01:47but they're facing the modern version of repression
01:53where people are being arrested, put into jail.
02:01What does the Uttar Pradesh government fear from a man whose life was spent seeking interfaith harmony?
02:12All I can ask is what does the Indian government or the Uttar Pradesh government fear
02:17from a man whose life was spent seeking interfaith harmony?
02:21Faizul Khan's arrest came just a bit before other extraordinary acts in Uttar Pradesh.
02:29The ordinance against interfaith marriage.
02:33And it's really unfortunate that we have to talk about Hindus for human rights
02:38and Muslims for human rights and workers for human rights
02:42and farmers for human rights, Dalits for human rights and so on.
02:46But the situation in India today is indeed absolutely unfortunate.
02:52I think that Faizul Khan is incarcerated only because he was not for communal violence
02:59and he was effective in trying to bring in the communal harmony.
03:04Anyone who is challenging this establishment of communal callous and corrupt people is behind the bars.
03:12There were Hindu Khudai Khidmat Gahs also in the parikrama, in the yatra that they did.
03:21But to my knowledge, no case has been made out against the Hindus who were there.
03:26The case has only been made out against the Muslim whom they caught.
03:31So they have and this is a pattern. This is something that you see again and again in India today.
03:38The victimization of Muslims and the demonization of Muslims.