On June 12, a young 21-years-old columnist with leftist propaganda portal The Wire, Meer Faisal, tweeted one highly derogatory and problematic tweet in support of ‘activist’ Afreen Fatima. Faisal is currently associated with Maktoob Media, an Islamist propaganda portal, and is a regular contributor to various media houses, including Al Jazeera, The Wire, Nikkei Asia, First Post and The Quint.
In his tweet, visibly angry Faisal was not pleased with the action taken by the Uttar Pradesh state government against Prayagraj riots accused Javed Pump’s illegally constructed house. Fatima is Javed Pump’s daughter. He wrote, “Laanat on all opposition parties and leaders of UP. A kufr Millatun Wahida” followed by a hashtag #StandWithAfreenFatima.
Notably, Fatima’s father, Javed Mohammed ‘Pump’, was arrested by the UP Police as he had emerged as the mastermind behind Prayagraj violence. The violence took place on Friday during a protest against alleged derogatory remarks by Bharatiya Janata Party’s former spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad.
The line that followed the ‘laanat’ ‘A kufr Millatun Wahida’ translated to ‘All non-Muslims are the same i.e. Kaafir’. Shortly after the rant, Faisal deleted the tweet, but by then, his anger and frustration towards Kafirs or Kufrs (or Non-Muslims/Hindus who do not believe in ‘One God’) was all over the social media.
Meaning of Al-kufr millah wahida’ is that All non-Muslims are the same.
— Rais Pathan (@PathanRaisKhan) June 12, 2022
Friends he is a “Journalists”, i say this again he is a “Journalist” at @TheQuint , @thewire_in , @firstpost etc.
Let’s see how many of so called Liberals will call out this More on for such hate. pic.twitter.com/6CkjAX811M
If we look at the history of Meer Faisal’s social media (Twitter) account, this is not the first time he has spoken against non-Muslims (especially Hindus). Faisal was also booked by Delhi Police for allegedly cooking up a story against Hindus and Delhi Police a few months back.
Delhi Police booked Meer Faisal for publishing a fake story
On April 4, Delhi Police booked Faisal and news portal Article 14 for disseminating false information using the social media platform Twitter. The false information was shared regarding The Hindu Mahapanchayat event organised by the Save India Foundation at the Burari ground in Delhi on April 3.
Deputy Police Commissioner Northwest Usha Rangnani said in a statement, “An FIR under Indian Penal Code’s Section 505 (2) has been registered at Mukherjee Nagar Police Station against some Twitter handles for tweets in circulation having content which could incite enmity, hatred, and ill-will between two communal groups. The investigation in the case has been taken up.”
On April 3, Faisal claimed that five Muslim journalists, including him, were ‘assaulted’ at an event by a “Hindu” mob. News portal Article 14 had also tweeted, “5 journalists, 4 of them Muslim,1 on assignment for @Article14live, have been taken by police to the Mukherji Nagar police station in Delhi after a mob at #Hindu#dharamsansad (for which the police had declined permission) discovered their religion, attacked them & deleted videos”.
The claims were refuted by DCP. She said, “Some of the reporters, willingly, on their own free will, to evade the crowd which was getting agitated by their presence, sat in PCR Van stationed at the venue and opted to proceed to Police Station for security reasons. No one was detained. Due police protection was provided.” DCP added that necessary action would be taken against those who spread the misinformation.
Faisal claimed Hindus attacked Muslims in Kanpur violence
On June 3 he claimed that it was a “Hindu mob” that pelted stones when poor Muslims were merely shutting shops to protest against “blasphemous” statements by Nupur Sharma. To put things into perspective, a report has revealed that after Friday prayers, the Muslim mob began forcing Hindus in the Beconganj district to close their shops. When they objected, the enraged mob began throwing stones at Hindus. The Islamists insisted on knowing the names of the people, and those who were Hindus were attacked.
Violence broke out in #Kanpur during shutdown called by Muslim community protesting against @NupurSharmaBJP blasphemous comments against Prophet Muhammad SAW. When Muslim shopkeepers were closing their shops after Friday prayers, the Hindutva mob started pelting stones at them. pic.twitter.com/MdEfRuQBwr
— Meer Faisal (@meerfaisal01) June 3, 2022
‘Hindus target Muslims on Hindu festivals’
On April 10, he claimed that Hindus target Muslims during Hindu festivals and such festivals had become a ‘nightmare’ for Muslims. He said, “Hindu festival have become a nightmare for the Muslims of India. Hindus can’t even celebrate their festivals without targeting Muslims. Laanat hai!”
On April 10, Hindus celebrated Ram Navami, the birthday of Bhagwan Ram. On this day every year, Hindus take out Shobha Yatras across the country to celebrate the birth of their beloved Bhagwan.
This year on Ram Navami, multiple Shobha Yatras were attacked and Islamists indulged in pelting stones, throwing petrol bombs and attacking Hindus with swords. At some locations, they even fired bullets at innocent Hindus. Such reports came from Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
The left-liberals and Islamists on social media, news media and other platforms tried to paint Hindus in a bad light and claimed it was Hindus who attacked and provoked Muslims by ‘chanting provocative slogan of Jai Shri Ram’. People like Meer Faisal ran a propaganda-filled campaign to malign the image of peace-loving Hindus. He shared several tweets blaming Hindus for arson and attacking Muslims. He conveniently missed the details of Hindus who were peacefully taking out Shobha Yatra and were attacked by the Muslim mob.
Faisal fear mongered about a peaceful Bajrang Dal rally in Mewat, the ‘mini Pakistan’
In December last year, Faisal took to Twitter to post a host of videos about a Bajrang Dal rally in Mewat to fearmonger about Hindu outfits trying to create a “communal divide” between Hindus and Muslims of the area.
Meer Faisal stated in his Twitter thread that on the 12th of December, Bajrang Dal member Jeet Vashisht took to Facebook to post videos of a saffron rally in Nuh, the Muslim-majority area in Mewat. He said that Jai Shree Ram slogans were raised in front of Muslim households and that the rally was carried out with over 500 cars filled with “Hindutva supporters” who had entered the area to saffronise Mewat.
On the contrary, the police also confirmed that the rally was completely peaceful and no untoward incident was reported. Interestingly, the rally had happened with due permission of the Police which Faisal ignored.
Support for anti-India forces
On several occasions, Faisal showed his support for anti-India forces. In 2020, he posted a thread in support of Sharjeel Imam where he called him the ‘spark that awakened the public that was sleeping for over 70 years. Completely ignoring the fact that in his provocative speeches, Imam had talked about cutting the Northeast part of India, Faisal demanded the release of Imam.
Faisal inadvertently rightly said that “he [Imam] is well known for fighting the war of Qaum”.
He also came out in support of Sharjeel Usmani and demanded his release while calling him a student leader. Though he kept supporting Usmani, Faisal ignored the fact that Usmani was booked and arrested for instigating riots and giving provocative speeches.
This is not even the tip of the iceberg. Faisal has countless posts against Hindus targeting Hindutva and blaming Hindus for “atrocities against Muslims”.
