Udaipur killing: Guterres calls for respecting all religions

United Nations, Jun 30: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls for the full respect of all religions and for ensuring that different communities can live in harmony and peace globally, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said amidst communal tensions in Rajasthan after the killing of a tailor in Udaipur.

Dujarric said this in response to a question on whether the UN chief has a comment on the "resurgence" of religious tensions in India following the killing of Kanhaiya Lal.

Two men, identified as Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, with a cleaver hacked Lal to death in Udaipur city and posted videos online that said they are avenging an insult to Islam, triggering stray cases of violence in the Rajasthan city, a part of which was placed under curfew.

"We very much hope... we call for the full respect of all religions and for ensuring, throughout the world, that different communities can live in harmony and in peace," Dujarric said at the daily press briefing here on Wednesday.

In response to another question on the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, he said: "We believe in a fundamental right of expression. We believe in the fundamental right of journalists to express themselves and we also believe in the fundamental need for people to respect other communities and other religions. And we don't believe the two are... we believe those two sentiments are very much compatible".

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday over an "objectionable tweet" he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.