New York: Controversial author Salman Rushdie (75) was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at a literary event in New York on Friday. He is on ventilator and could lose an eye. Police have identified his attacker.

            Salman Rushdie suffered severe nerves in an arm and damage to his liver and could lose an eye, said his agent Andrew Wylie.  According to the New York State police the attacker indentified as Hadi Matar (24) from New Jersey. The motive behind the attack remain unclear, officials said. The attack occurred as Rushdie was about to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution near the New York City, which holds arts programs. There were around 2,500 people in the audience, who were evacuated later.

Hadi Matar rushed to the stage and attacked Rushdie.  In this incident Henry Reese, the interviewer, also suffered a head injury in the attack. Visuals and images circulating on social media showed some people in the audience rushing to the stage and taking the suspect to the ground, before a trooper present at the event arrested him.

A doctor present at the event administered medical care until emergency first responders arrived. He was then airlifted to the hospital where he underwent an emergency surgery. New York governor Kathy Hochul condemned the stabbing and hailed Rushdie as an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power. We condemn all violence, and we want people to be able to feel the freedom to speak and to write truth, she said.

Rushdie was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel Midnight’s Children in 1981, which won international praise and prestigious Booker Prize. A British citizen of Indian origin – living in the US for the past 20 years Salman Rushdie has faced threats for decades over his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses. The novel was considered by some clerics as disrespectful to the Prophet Mohammed.