On Tuesday (31st October), the former Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, Zafarul Islam Khan, courted controversy after he called for the persecution of 8 ex-Indian Navy officers, who were handed the death penalty by the Qatari government.
In a tweet (archive), he claimed, “There must be no sympathy if these ex-Navy officers really spied for Israel. India must properly investigate before jumping to defend them.”
At a time when former Indian Navy officers are facing the death penalty over unsubstantiated charges of espionage, Zafarul Islam Khan lent credence to the outlandish claims.
With the assumption that the Indian nationals were guilty, he appeared to side with the decision by Qatar to execute them. Zafarul Islam Khan was seen directing the Indian government to investigate the matter before ‘jumping to conclusions’, even though the latter has already rubbished the claims.
This is however not the first time when the former Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission prioritised his religion over the interests of India. In April 2020, he shared a provocative post on Facebook to thank Kuwait for “standing with the Indian Muslims”.
Zafarul Islam Khan attacked the Hindus by referring to them as “Hindutva bigots”, who according to him miscalculated the reaction of the Arab world to the “persecution of Muslims in India”.
In his post, Khan went on to assert that Indian Muslims enjoy huge goodwill in the Arab and Muslim world for their services over centuries to Islamic causes. His post comes amidst reports that Kuwait had expressed concern regarding the alleged atrocities against Muslims in the country amidst coronavirus outbreak.
He also hailed notorious radical Islamist and terror sympathiser Zakir Naik in his post as he claimed people like Naik are respectful household names in the Arab region and Muslim world.
“Mind you, bigots, Indian Muslims have opted until now not to complain to the Arab and Muslim world about your hate campaigns and lynchings and riots. The day they are pushed to do that, bigots will face avalanche,” the ex-Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission added.
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police reportedly had booked Zafarul Islam, the then Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, for sedition (IPC Section 124A) and promoting religious animosity (IPC Section 153A).
Later, he tendered an apology saying that his statement was a little ‘out of proportion’ and that he would continue to defend India on crucial issues as doing otherwise would be against the Constitution and his religious beliefs.
In April 2022, Zafarul Islam Khan went on to downplay the atrocities perpetrated by Islamists in Khargone during Ram Navami. He took to Twitter to call out a Hindu victim of the Khargone violence who had spoken to the media about the betrayal he faced from his Muslim neighbours.
Despite there being video evidence of the Hindu victim’s confession on the public platform, Khan went on to insinuate that the Hindu victim was lying.