Pakistan calls in UK ambassador over Rushdie

Pakistan summoned the British ambassador on Tuesday and told him giving a knighthood to Salman Rushdie, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" outraged many Muslims, was insensitive and there were protests around the country.

Rushdie, whose book prompted the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa against him for blaspheming against Islam, was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in Queen Elizabeth's birthday honours list.

Pakistanis protested in several cities on Tuesday chanting "Death to Rushdie" and burning effigies of the British author, born in Bombay to Muslim parents in 1947 and educated at an exclusive British school and Cambridge University.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley had been called in.

"He was told that Salman Rushdie has been a controversial figure who is known less for his literary contribution and more for his offensive and insulting writing which deeply hurts the sentiments of Muslims all over the world," she said.

"Conferment of a knighthood on Salman Rushdie shows an utter lack of sensitivity on the part of the British government."

The Pakistani parliament passed a resolution on Monday deploring the knighthood, and the religious affairs minister said the honour could be used to justify suicide bombings.

He later said he did not mean such attacks would be justified but the comment caused a storm of protest.

Britain said it was concerned about the minister's comments and nothing could justify suicide blasts.

"The High Commissioner made clear the British government's deep concern at what the minister for religious affairs was reported to have said," a British Foreign Office spokesman said.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said he did not know if the minister was accurately quoted but "it's safe to assume we don't share the view."

Rushdie's book prompted protests, some violent, by Muslims in many countries after it was published in 1988. Muslims say the novel blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammad and ridiculed the Koran and events in early Muslim history.

Khomeini, issued a fatwa against Rushdie in 1989. Fearing for his life, he was forced into hiding for nine years.


"NO INSULT INTENDED"

Brinkley said on Monday Rushdie's knighthood was a reflection of his contribution to literature and was not intended as an insult to Islam or the Prophet Mohammad.

Islam was the second largest religion in Britain and was regarded with the highest level of respect, he said.

Aslam said the knighthood was resented by all Muslims.

"The British High Commissioner was further told that Pakistan deplores and regrets this decision which is contrary to our common objective of building inter-civilisational and inter-religious understanding and harmony," she said.

Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejaz-ul-Haq again said his comments on Monday, that the knighthood could be used to justify suicide bombings, were not meant to incite violence.

But he said it was a fact that the honour could motivate potential suicide bombers, and added that the knighthood should be withdrawn and Britain should apologise to all Muslims.

"These are things which inflame sentiments, which create provocation and which lead to spreading extremism," Haq told a news conference. "These are steps which add fuel to the fire of hatred."

Haq is the son of late military president Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, whose policies of Islamisation in the 1980s are often blamed for sowing the seeds of Islamist militancy.

Islamist parties called for a countrywide protest on Friday.




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The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta,
held as a votive, not in vain, for the value
and veracity of such shall one day vindicate
the vigilant and the virtuous.
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