Knighthood for Rushdie Angers Pakistanis

Jun 19, 10:38 AM

Current Headlines: Lawmakers in Pakistan on Monday condemned Britain's award of a knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie as an affront to Muslim sentiments and a cabinet minister said the honor provided a justification for suicide attacks. "This is an occasion for the 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, said in Parliament. "The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body, he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the 'sir' title."

One opposition member, Khwaja Asif, said the resolution, which was passed unanimously in the lower house, exposed a contradiction in the government's policy as an ally of Britain in the U.S.-led "war on terrorism."

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a religious edict before his death in 1989, ordering Muslims to kill the author on the grounds that his book, "The Satanic Verses," insulted Islam. The threat forced Rushdie to live in hiding for a decade.

Britain broke diplomatic relations with Iran over the issue, restoring them in 1998 when Iran said it would not harm Rushdie. Iran condemned the knighthood for Rushdie on Sunday.

Robert Brinkley, Britain's ambassador to Pakistan, defended the decision to honor Rushdie, whose 13 books have won numerous awards.

"It is simply untrue to suggest that this in anyway is an insult to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad, and we have enormous respect for Islam as a religion and for its intellectual and cultural achievements," Brinkley said.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, said that Rushdie's knighthood would hamper interfaith understanding and that Islamabad would protest to London. Britain announced the knighthood Saturday as part of the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 81st birthday.

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