Salman Rushdie stabbed: Shashi Tharoor says ‘sad day but worse would be…’

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New
Delhi,
Aug
13:
Congress
leader
and
author
Shashi
Tharoor
on
Saturday
said
he
was
“utterly
horrified”
by
the
stabbing
of
novelist
Salman
Rushdie
in
New
York
and
expressed
concern
over
whether
creative
expression
can
be
free
and
open.

Rushdie
was
on
a
ventilator
with
a
damaged
liver
and
may
lose
one
of
his
eyes
after
he
was
stabbed
in
the
neck
and
abdomen
by
a
man
on
stage
at
a
literary
event
in
upstate
New
York.

The
Mumbai-born
controversial
author,
who
faced
Islamist
death
threats
for
years
after
writing
“The
Satanic
Verses”,
was
stabbed
by
a
24-year-old
New
Jersey
resident
identified
as
Hadi
Matar
on
stage
on
Friday
while
he
was
being
introduced
at
the
event
of
the
Chautauqua
Institution
in
Western
New
York.

Salman
Rushdie
was
lying
in
a
pool
of
blood,
says
doctor
who
was
in
audience

“Utterly
horrified
&
shocked
by
the
stabbing
of
@SalmanRushdie.
Wish
him
a
speedy
&
complete
recovery
from
his
wounds,
even
though,
with
a
sinking
heart,
I
recognize
that
life
for
him
can
never
be
the
same
again,”
Tharoor
tweeted.
“A
sad
day,
worse
if
creative
expression
can
no
longer
be
free
&
open,”
he
said.

Rushdie
was
airlifted
from
a
field
adjacent
to
the
venue
to
a
hospital
in
northwestern
Pennsylvania
where
the
75-year-old
writer
underwent
surgery.
The
writer
has
also
won
the
Booker
Prize
for
his
novel
“Midnight’s
Children”.