KOCHI: Professor TJ Joseph, the first victim of PFI’s violence in Kerala, on Wednesday said he would like to offer silence as response — like other victims of the outfit’s brutality who are dead and hence cannot respond— to the ban. He said an extremist body like PFI should not have existed in a progressive, literate state like Kerala.
PFI members had chopped off Joseph’s hand in 2010 alleging he committed blasphemy in a question paper he set. The episode had announced the emergence of the extremist Muslim outfit as a force to reckon with in Kerala’s socio-political sphere. “Many in Kerala lost their lives in attacks by this radical group. They cannot react as they are dead. I am a victim too…I do not want to react to the ban...as it would be subjective,” he told TNIE.
“PFI is inspired by an ideology. As long as that ideology is there, the ban will not offer a full solution. People at the top of PFI decided to chop off my hands. Though it was termed an emotional reaction of workers at the lowest level, they are yet to disown my attackers. I only have sympathy for them as they are victims of a barbaric ideology,” he said. The detailed interview – a part of the ‘Express Dialogues’ series – will be published on Sunday.