India: Anupam Kher Open letter to Peshawar Terrorists

Peshawar attack: Anupam Kher writes open letter to terrorists

Courtesy : Dawn News

Devastated by the news of the recent attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, Bollywood icon Anupam Kher has written an open letter to terrorists involved in the attack, reported Hindustan Times as it ran a copy of the letter.

Following are the words the renowned icon wrote:

Peshawar attack Anupam Kher writes open letter to terrorists

Every time you commit a mindless act of terrorism, I die a little. Truth be told, I have been dying quite often of late; little by little.

I have died when bombs go off in civilian areas, when bystanders are held hostage, when airlines are hijacked, when defenceless people are killed and when the unarmed are sold as slaves.

But today, when you butchered over 130 children in cold blood in a school in Peshawar, I fear there is nothing left in me. I don’t know what your objective was, but you have certainly reduced me to a dead man walking.

What tenet of religiosity can you quote to justify such slaughtering of children? What twisted perception of which faith can you claim to adhere to? Does it require bravery to shoot barefaced children, innocents who do not understand the concept of conflict, much less the evil face of terrorism?

Killing children cannot be an act of faith in any religion. According to early reports, you are the same monsters who tried to kill Malala Yousufzai on October 9, 2012.

You did not kill her; her bravery won her the Noble Prize earlier this month.

Words cannot adequately despise the monstrosity which you have committed. True, there have been greater pogroms in history such as Lidice, Dachau, the purges of Stalin, the Cultural Revolution of Mao, the killing fields of Cambodia. But these were political movements or results of conflict.

What you have done today is something not reflected in history; the slaughter of innocents.

I cannot ascribe a category to which you could possibly belong. Even animals kill for a reason; out of fear or hunger. But you let loose bullets out of senselessness. Truly, you are beyond evil.

Pictures of war and conflict often move me. Today it was different. I saw a picture of a father who had tied the shoelace of his son before he sent him to the ill-fated school.

‘I have the shoe, but I have no son’ he lamented.

I was not moved. I broke down.

Your dastardly act today will have united parents everywhere and earned you their curses. Time will prove that their curses will not have been in vain.

26 replies

  1. The eloquence of Mr. Kher’s pain made my heart ache. More moving words I have not heard, nor read, about this atrocity. It is a monumental statement that I shall not soon forget. I am with him, and all others who have suffered, in spirit. We are as one.

  2. Anupam Kher Love kids and work the betterment of children. I can understand his sentiments.Allah bless good people who cares for humanity and specially children.

  3. I commend you Sir for writing this letter. It brings tears to my eye to see that this is all being done in the name of Islam. This is not the Islam I was given and taught by my beloved Prophet(saw). While I am sadden to my core, I hold out a hope that one day Muslims of the world and others will revert to the beautiful teaching of true Islam. Muslims of the World I ask that we unit against all forms of terror no matter where it is committed. I pray that May Allah grant the parents of the people who died the strength to overcome there loss. My prayer are with you.
    I also beg people of Pakistan that get rise up against all the Mullahs who breed hatred against each other and stand up against the Government of Pakistan to nullify the blasphemy law. Until that is done I fear there will be no peace in my beloved land of Pakistan

  4. Anupam Kher, I take my hat off for your sentiment, I agree it is beyond comprehension why they have done this and what have they achieved by this heinous act? No one with a right mind will ever condone this instead their actions have earned them hatred from every decent person who heard this sad news. I hope and pray that either they come to their senses and change their ways or get wiped off the face of the Earth.

  5. curse of Allah, the angels and the entire mankind be on these beasts in human skin. They shall know no peace in this world and the next.

  6. The bigger question is: Will this wake up the common Pakistanis so they have a united upper hand over the mischief makers. Wake up Pakistan and eradicate the so obvious root causes of such extremism that is beyond human and animal imagination.

  7. ALLAH’S KILLERS
    It’s close to midnight
    Something evil’s lurkin’in the dark
    Under the moonlight
    You see a sight that almost stops your heart
    You try to scream
    But terror takes the sound before you make it
    You start to freeze
    As horror looks you right between the eyes
    You’re paralyzed
    ‘Cause this is killer
    Killer at night
    And no one’s gonna save you
    From the beast about to strike
    You know it’s Allah’s killer
    Killer at night
    You’re fighting for your life
    Beside a killer
    Killer tonight, yeah
    You hear the door slam
    And realize there’s nowhere left to run
    You feel the cold hand
    And wonder if you’ll ever see the sun
    You close your eyes
    And hope that this is just imagination
    But all the while
    You hear a creature creepin’ up behind
    You’re outta time
    ‘Cause this is Allah’s killer
    Killer at night
    There ain’t no second chance
    Against the thing with the beastly eyes,
    Killer
    Killer at night
    You’re fighting for your life
    Beside a killer
    Killer tonight
    Night creatures callin’
    The killers start to walk in their masquerade
    Darkness falls across the land
    The midnight hour is close at hand
    Creatures crawl in search of blood
    To terrorize your neighborhood
    And whosoever shall be found
    Without a gun to protect them
    Must stand and face the hounds of hell
    And rot inside a corpse’s shell
    Allah’s killer shouts:
    I’m gonna kill you tonight
    (Killer, killer)
    I’m gonna kill you tonight
    (Killer night, killer))
    I’m gonna kill you tonight
    I’m gonna kill you tonight
    Killer at night
    The foulest stench is in the air
    The funk of 1400 years
    And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
    Are closing in to seal your doom
    And though you fight to stay alive
    Your body starts to shiver
    For no mere mortal can resist
    The evil of Allah’s killers

  8. There is no law or religion that would sanction the killing of schoolchildren.

    Why then do we watch on our televisions while the Israelis bomb Gaza. Are those not innocent women and children? Where is the moral outrage>

    Do the Taliban or whoever these people are, do they not too have innocent wives and children when they become “collateral damage”from American drones?

    Evil always begets evil. And as much as we hate to see this mindless and insane violence, is it any worse to shoot innocent children than innocent worshipers inside a mosque?

    Sad to say, but the people of Pakistan are collectively reaping what they have sown. Worse is yet to come!

  9. Anupam kher sb is very right.we must condemned any such killings.
    Butlacs of innocent kids,women,pregnant women died when cultured countries attacked by drones/bombs in the name of removing terrorism.
    Media should highlight and condemned all killings.
    Nuclear weapons should be removed from this beautiful world.
    unfortunately a rich man plan/decide the requirements of poor people.
    Poverty is every where and we all must do maximum to remove poverty from this world.
    As cultured countries have lots of these weapons.
    These weapons are kept for human killings not for animal killings.
    The definition of Human right violation varies from place to place , country to country.

  10. In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious Ever Merciful
    Thank you India for sharing our grief, especially I am grateful for the having most precious humanitarian heart and giving so forceful message for pondering for terrorist for their nefarious act of violence. I do hope it will serve the first step to bring closer two anemically neighboring countries. Let us be fair to all, give the people of Kashmir their right of adult franchises to join India, Pakistan or Independent New country according to the wishes of the people of the Kashmir and as per Resolution of General Assembly of Pakistan.
    We have more than three wars, probably neither has gain any thing save loses, the loses of precious human beings and loses of resources. And who is being benefited from the mad race of war, it is the west who has Markets in both the countries to Cell weapons. It is high time to ponder upon and try to reduce our differences to nil and to use our resources to develop our people for their prosperity.
    Zarif Ahmad

  11. You have truley portrayed the feelings of so many of us. The irony of all this is that they committed this senseless, gruesome act in the name of religion and worse of all they can never be tried in the court of justice , I pray that God almighty try them in his court and award them a punishment more severe than ever imagined , amen

  12. Killing is bad. Killing in the name of religion is evil.
    Torture is bad. Torturing in the name of civilization is evil. I find the Talaban and the American CIA born out same immoral and wicked policies…..The Muslim Ulemas and intellectuals should now act fast. Form an organisation on an international level to focus all the powers of Muslims to eradicate this menace from the world. Muslim Ulemas and intellectuals should get to gather and disclaim all such preachings of violence that are dished out as Islamic. In the same manner Americans must awake against the evil CIA and fight for a just ethical government. America is fanning the flames of hatred in the Muslim world and Muslim youth are being misguided and exploited by people like Taleban and ISIS to further their own evil agenda.If drastic actions are not taken to eradicate these evils- the whole world can be put into flames and then no point of mourning. Anyone who kills children and innocent civilians are simply barbarians who go against humanity and the golden principles of Islam – which has clearly instructed its followers not to exceed the limits.

  13. The sentiments echoed by the Bollywood Icon, Mr Anupam Kher Sahib, in relation to one of the most senseless acts of violence in recorded history, hurts every decent human on earth! How could one justify killing children??!! This act is so heinous, that it seems unreal! How could any sane human perpetrate and execute an act so terrible that appropriate vocabulary cannot describe the act?! These so called Mullahs have taken a religion that teaches Peace and Submission to the Will of Allah, as a hostage!! Each time I see the Shahada and the Seal of our Beloved Holy Prophet, being waved, I am witnessing the religion of Islam being taken hostage by these mindless beings!!! A sense of helplessness has evolved which is highlighted by Mr Kher. We pray earnestly for this to stop immediately and note that the cry of each parent, who lost a child to this atrocity, and the curse of greater humanity, will never be in vain!! We pray for Peace on earth and the end to this atrocious violence.

  14. These killers must be the progeny of the killers of
    Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
    It is inhuman to call them humans.
    Allah, the most merciful & beneficent, had to create JAHANNAM.

  15. These killers must be the progeny of the killers of
    Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
    It is inhuman to call them Humans.
    Allah (swt), most merciful & beneficient, had to
    create JAHANNAM.

  16. An Open Letter from A True “TALIB’

    Dear Anupam Kher,
    I have read your letter published in Dawn.com, although it was from a “Kafir”. I did not understand it well because it was in a human language, which we have forgotten since some decades. You humans are very strange and possess a dual face. We the ‘sharrar’ have only one face. The ugly one but it is permanent and does not change with time and situation.

    We are here because some of your friends in Pakistan used their own religion to discriminate and punish the fellows in the same religion because of a little different opinion or practice. They call it their “Aqeeda’ for which they are ready to give their life and ever ready to take others’. Similarly they have made Laws in their domain of power where they think anybody who leaves their religion could be put to death. I have also heard that they have created a clause in the Law that if someone (according to them) alleged to pass some derogatory remarks against sacred personalities (even by connotation) can be tried and put to death.
    I was told that the number of people (men, woman and children) so convicted are more than the number killed by my friends in Peshawar school. The Children who were killed have become your hero but the people who are killed in the name of blasphemy are cursed forever and their relatives are then never safe to live a normal life.
    Some years ago one of your high official had fooled with the zealots of blasphemy , so he was killed by his own bodyguard. The body guard is hero of so many, who are now condemning the killing in Peshawar. I do not know what difference in the both is. There are classes of special privilege in your ranks of deeni leaders. If they do same thing it is right, when somebody copies them he is wrong. I have been victim of this conflict so I joined my brothers who kill indiscriminately. Religious leaders also taught us that gaining power is vital to implement the Sharia law. For this reason all of them are also playing dirty games in politics. They are Political Pundits as well as religious leaders. The religion (Islam) is same but the interpreters are hundreds, each one differing with the other.)
    One more thing which pushed me to this group is the clarity of the Talban policies. We see the world in Black and White. Extremism is new norm here. We saw the selective extremism in the Pakistani society, but that is hypocritical. So the best policy is to accept the bigotry as the new standard, which we do practice.
    Someone may not blame me a Shia or Wahabi or Deobandi. I am just cream of extreme. Mullah does it in slow and systematic way but we do it at fast track. They have devised fancy excuses for this but outcome is same. I do not know but you might tell me how many Shias have been killed during Muharram. How many Ahmadis were slaughtered and how many Christian were burned alive in the name of Islam in Pakistan.
    May be one day they realize, that when you make tall claims for tolerance it includes every human, Muslim or non-Muslim. But do not worry about me, I am above this principle, because we do not believe in tolerance. We have seen that this word has proven to be deceptive and hypocritical. It is only a slogan and tool in the hands of powerful deeni elite – who have made the whole society a hostage.

    A true Talib

  17. My heart bled when I herd this atrocity by mad people in peshawar but I salute Mr kher, s statement fully heartedly God bless him

  18. I salute Mr kher, BUT LET’S PONDER OVER FAZAL’S REACTION. These so-called criminals were created by Pakistani people themselves through their Mullahs, Maulvis, Maulanas,Shaikhs,heavy bearded leaders,Prime Ministers and Presidents. According to FAZAL, the TALIBANS including him were handiwork of Pakistani people.
    So, you people of Pakistan,should reflect upon his reaction, if it is not through your actions, omissions and commissions that have bred these so-called ANIMALS.
    I believe FAZAL is right although I don’t approve of their dastardly act.
    THE REAL CRIMINALS ARE POLITICIANS AND MULLAHS WHO HAVE CREATED THESE INSENSITIVE PEOPLE THROUGH SUBTLE COMPLICITY.
    May Allah(swt)let them suffer their own evil creations.May they be disgraced and destroyed. Ameen.

  19. The government of Pakistan is to blame. More than 80 Ahmadis were massacred in two mosques during prayer in Lahore in 2010. Nothing has been done about those terrorists.
    There are open banners in the streets of well known cities inviting (exhorting) poor Muslims to go ahead and kill the Ahmadis. Government agencies do not check up who is putting up those banners.
    Violence has spread against the Ahmadis, Shias, Hindus and Christians in the name of Islam. There is no security for any Pakistani citizen.
    Evil is being spread in the name of religion. Evil is being taught in the religious seminaries (schools). those sitting at the head of those schools do not know abc of real Islam.
    In 1953, a definition of Muslim was demanded by the judges of a court of inquiry. 20 Muslim religious leaders could not give one useful, correct definition of the word “Muslim”.
    I am fully aware that the so-called religious Muslim scholars do not know (and cannot define) the meaning of the Quranic words, Momin, Muslim, Munafiq, Kafir and Murtadd. There are many examples to show their ignorance. Just as one example, the Mullas consider every person who has not recited the Kalimah as Kafir. They do not know anything about peaceful Islam and they are pressing hard to implement Shariat Law in the country.
    One big Muslim leader, Late Maudoodi sahib, spent all his life trying to prove that Hazrat Isa a.s. (Jesus son of Mary) was still alive and had never passed away. He spent all his power in distorting the meaning of an important word “tawaffa” of the Quran. Yet he is considered a scholar. God forbids.
    Then Maudoodi sahib (and all other Maulvis) consider that Allah has stopped speaking. i.e. Allah listens to prayers but does not speak, does not reply. It is all against the teachings of the Quran in which it is stated that there are always good news for the good people. (Basharaat).
    We know that any peaceful person of any faith, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu is not a Kafir. Only the fanatic persons of any faith are Kafir. That includes fanatic Muslims too. I can give very good reference for this from the Quran. There is a much greater warning for the believing Kafirs.
    It is necessary to take up these subjects of Quranic teachings with the so-called leaders of Muslims and decide the matter about what they know and what they are teaching.
    The government should be serious to take a step in clamping rowdiness in the country based on religious differences. Nobody need to be punished for his/her belief. Allah will decide about the right and wrong beliefs in next life.
    The western countries are progressing because the Church has stopped interfering in state matters.

  20. Thank you, brother Ghulam for your considered opinion about the inertia of the Pakistani government to descend heavily on architect of lawlessness.
    They thought it was only Ahmadis and other religious minorities who would suffer. The whole nation is now suffering for their loud silence towards minorities’ plight.
    Politicians are not safe, soldiers are not safe, police officers who watch these lawless people attack minority groups are not safe, Mullas who incite these people to commit atrocities are not safe themselves and as for other religious minorities, they have become used to the misdeeds of these Satans.
    What Pakistan should do now is to allow religious freedoms and remove all obnoxious laws that support these criminals to do what they are doing in the name of Islam. If that is done then law enforcers will be able to enforce the laws to ensure peace, harmony and national cohesion. When this is achieved,all the people of Pakistan will be unified and forge towards a common goal; progress and prosperity.
    Indeed, Pakistan deserves better than what we are witnessing now.
    Once again, Ghulam, I share your opinion.
    Thanks.

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