A Tunisian man last month stabbed three people to death inside a church in the French city of Nice, with administration stating it to be an "Islamic terrorist attack at the heart of the Notre-Dame basilica".
According to the police, one woman was beheaded in the attack, while the suspect was detained shortly after. The accused had "repeated endlessly 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest) when he was being treated at the scene", adding that one of the three victims was the caretaker at the basilica.
Here are the excerpts of writer Taslima Nasrin's exclusive conversation with ABP News:
What was the first reaction over the news of the terrorist attack ahead of the killing of the teacher for showing a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad?
See, France has seen a lot of terrorist attacks, but I was shocked to know that the country again witnessed another one. As the country said it will put a check on terrorism, and what can we say, in Islam still follows the 7th-century laws. We still have the rituals and the beliefs that the people used to follow in Mecca and Medina 1400 years ago.
But, I think that Islam should be reformed, laws should be changed and the indoctrination of children should be stopped.
Actually, you are saying a big thing that Islam should be reformed. What exactly do you mean?
Yes indeed, a lot of reforms are required, because other religions witnessed a lot of reforms.
If we go in history, a lot of religions witnessed violence, Christianity talked a lot about violence, in the middle ages so many critics of Christianity were killed, they faced acquisitions that they had doubt on Christian faith. The church killed so many people who doubted the Christian faith. But now they have changed. They have now secularized their societies.
They have separated the state and religion, the law should not be based on religion, but on equality. However, in Muslim countries the sharia law is still prevalent, they still follow the 7th-century law. Which should be gone.
Laws should be based on human rights, free speech and democracy for all men and women. But, the problem is that Islam is not reformed.
Whosoever talks about reforms about Islam, they get killed. If such is the scenario, then who will work on reforms.
If you talk about the killings of blogger today, 26 years ago, I was forced to leave my country. The government still has not allowed me to enter the country, because I am critical of Islam. You know, we are allowed to be critical of all other religions other than Islam.
When you talk about freedom of speech, what are its limits? Do you think hurting someone's religious belief on the backdrop of freedom of speech is right?
There are various kinds of feelings which get hurt every now and then, but we somehow cope up with all that. However, when it comes to religion it's the political leaders who demand that feelings should be hurt. This indeed is not the right approach. If you want freedom of speech, you will have to compromise with your religious sentiments and feelings.
Go to any other religion, they are somewhat critical of their beliefs and faiths and it surely hurts their sentiments as well. But as there was freedom of expression, their surroundings got modernised, civilised day by day.
Criticism is very important for every religion and society. Going forward, the state and religion will be separated, technical education will be favored and society will be secularised.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chand and Vidyasagar were reformers and are now considered great people. But with Islam, those who have tried or trying are labelled as homophobe, haters and what not.
French President Macron said that the world is in crisis, are you satisfied with the statement?
Yes, what he said was absolutely true! They can't kill people in the name of religion, they utter Allah hu Akbar (Allah is great) while they slaughter people.
Do you agree that not every Muslim is the same?
I come from the Muslim community and I am a free thinker and there many like me. The silent majority of Muslims is a big problem.
While the Jihadi Muslims are terrorising the society, the moderate Muslims are paying for the deeds of the other faction and that is why every Muslim is considered the same. At times it makes us look like, if not jihadi, we are their sympathizers.