New Delhi: More than 260 authors, journalists, activists and artists have signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Government of India to review its decision to revoke author Aatish Taseer’s Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status.
The letter has been signed by some very prominent names such as CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, scholar Homi K. Bhabha, author Salman Rushdie, senior journalist Sir Harold Evans, authors Jhumpa Lahiri, Margaret Atwood and Chimamanda Adichie.
The letter urges the government to review its decision in order “to ensure Aatish Taseer has access to his childhood home and family, and that other writers are not similarly targeted”.
It also says denying access to the country to writers “casts a chill on public discourse; it flies in the face of India’s traditions of free and open debate and respect for a diversity of views, and weakens its credentials as a strong and thriving democracy.”
Prominent signatories to the letter also include award-winning author Amitav Ghosh, professor and theorist Priyamvada Gopal, American actress and activist Mia Farrow, poet Meena Kandasamy, political scientist Christophe Jaffrelott, photographer Shahidul Alam, artist Molly Crabapple, writer Mohsin Hamid, British actress Thandie Newton, author Orhan Pamuk, singer Anoushka Shankar, feminist-activist Gloria Steinem, writer Zadie Smith, editor and journalist Radhika Jones, author Amitava Kumar and Kiran Desai, among others.
Also read: Prankster and Pakistani patriot: Aatish Taseer’s dad Salmaan was a man of many selves
‘Personal form of retaliation for his writing’
The letter, published by PEN America — an American free speech organisation which recently hit out at India for revoking Taseer’s OCI status — says the Modi government is most likely in retaliation for his writing.
“We are extremely concerned that Taseer appears to have been targeted for an extremely personal form of retaliation due to his writing and reporting that has been critical of the Indian government,” it says.
The letter refers to Taseer’s cover story for TIME magazine titled ‘India’s Divider in Chief’, and narrates how he subsequently received a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notifying him of the government’s intention to revoke his OCI card.
On November 7, the MHA, in a series of tweets said Taseer had hidden information
that his father (Salmaan Taseer) is of Pakistani origin.
“In his application for the OCI status, Taseer listed his father’s name and never tried to hide his identity; in fact, a number of his books and articles have extensively covered his heritage and past,” said the letter.
Also read: Aatish Taseer’s father Salman Taseer was a proud Pakistani and defender of 2-nation theory