Arrest made in alleged plot to kill Sun writer
Police in Delhi made an arrest Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to kill Tarek Fatah, a Canadian writer and controversial critic of Islamism whose recent rise to fame in India has earned him both admirers and death threats.
Delhi police suggested one of the top-ranking members of D- Company, a notorious organized crime outfit in India, ordered two men to kill “a writer and well-known TV personality.” Local media reported that the target was Fatah, a Toronto Sun columnist. ( Postmedia owns both the Sun and National Post.)
Fatah has been back in Canada since the spring, after finishing production of the first season of his talk show in India, Fatah’s Fatwa, which reportedly became a runaway success for the Zee News channel earlier this year. “I’m relieved I’m in Canada,” Fatah told the Post on Wednesday. “I’d rather have ( Justin Trudeau) wearing coloured socks than be in India in front of an assassin’s bullet.”
Police said one of the two men accused in the assassination plan was already arrested in June. The second suspect was a 28- year- old identified as “Naseem,” also known by the alias Rizwan. Naseem was arrested Tuesday after investigators received a tip and “laid down a trap,” according to a police news release. Police alleged Naseem was “a desperate robber” and contract killer who took orders about “eliminating the writer” from Chhota Shakeel, believed to one of the leaders of D- Company.
On Facebook, Fatah posted a photo of himself in a witch’s hat, boasting that his Halloween had been cheerful as ever despite “a wannabe assassin in India.” On Wednesday, however, he admitted the reports had shaken him. “I feel I’m putting on an act by saying I’m not scared,” he said. “It’s a very strange feeling.”
Fatah, a Muslim, was born in Pakistan and emigrated to Canada in 1987. As an author, columnist and radio host, he often criticizes what he views as extremism in Muslim society that is “held hostage by hateful pretenders of piety.” In recent years, his views have courted controversy. A contributor to Rebel Media, Fatah has sided with Donald Trump’s proposed ban on immigration from several Muslim- majority countries and supported a debunked theory that a Muslim was involved in a deadly shooting at a Quebec City mosque in January.
On his Fatah’s Fatwa show, discussions about Islamic issues with members of the Indian Muslim community regularly become heated, with one guest threatening to slit his throat. The show, he said, touched on incendiary topics — like polygamy — in India, where Islamic issues and tensions between the Hindu majority and Muslims are usually left unspoken.
Investigators were not available to answer questions on the motives behind the alleged assassination attempt. Fatah, though, said he believes the motive is clear. “They’re upset about what I said on my television shows.”