"Threats won't silence me or my community," home razed, defiant Afreen Fatima says
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Allahabad: Days after the detention of her father Javed Mohammad and the demolition of her house over alleged involvement in violent protests in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj last week, student activist Afreen Fatima is defiant.
As per an Indian Express report, Fatima who appeared via zoom at a press conference organized by the Fraternity Movement on Thursday said she and her community would not be silenced despite the "threats."
"No matter how much you try to scare and threaten us, or trouble us by putting us in jail, we will not keep quiet or be silenced, nor are we going to disappear from this country," she said.
Fatima also added that she stands in absolute solidarity with all Muslim families whose houses have been demolished.
She said her family was "privileged" and her "heart aches for those who are not so privileged and whose houses were broken".
The Uttar Pradesh government recently razed the house of Fatima in Prayagraj after the police named her father Javed Mohammad as the "mastermind" in the protests that took place in the town on June 10 in the wake of controversy following now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma's remarks on the Prophet.
Fatima was told on June 11 night that the Uttar Pradesh authorities had put up a notice outside their house, which asked them to vacate the house before it was demolished. The notice that was served on them was addressed to Javed Mohammad, Fatima's father but the house belonged to Parveen Fatima, her mother. Sumaiyya Fatima (Afreen's sister) told Indian Express that the house was gifted to her mother by her grandfather two decades ago but they had never been told that the property was "illegally built."
Javed and Fatima are members of the Welfare Party of India — she is the national secretary of the Fraternity Movement, the student wing of the Welfare Party.
Fatima however, maintained that her father was "completely innocent".
Javed's wife also issued a statement saying the charges against her husband were "baseless" and the family's priority was to "prove his innocence and ensure his release".
