June 22, 2007
Rushdie Bashing On in Pakistan,
Blair Under Fire
Islamabad
Traders here have announced a Rs.10 million ($140,000) reward for
anyone who beheads writer Salman Rushdie while Pakistani politicians
have condemned Britain's decision to honor him with knighthood.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government
recommended the honors list to Queen Elizabeth, has also come in for
criticism.
Around 200 traders in Islamabad's Aabpaqra Market Thursday announced
a reward of Rs.10 million for anyone who beheads Rushdie, the author
of "The Satanic Verses" which was banned in Pakistan as blasphemous.
"We will give Rs.10 million to anyone who beheads Rushdie," Ajmal
Baluch, secretary general of the Islamabad Traders Association, told
a cheering crowd. He also called on Islamic countries to boycott
British products in protest against the honor for Rushdie.
Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid president Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain said "one should not be surprised by the British
government's decision to award a knighthood to author Salman
Rushdie", Associated Press or Pakistan (APP) reported.
"Tony Blair is personally against the Muslims," Hussain told the
National Assembly while speaking on a point of order.
He also castigated Rushdie in the strongest possible words, the
report in Daily Times said. "He is a mad man. He is a thief and he
is a scoundrel."
Hussain suggested the author should only be called 'Rushdie', as "Salman
is a holy name and it is not appropriate to bracket it with
Rushdie".
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi said the house had
passed a unanimous resolution in this context. "The government has
strongly protested and told the British high commissioner that
Pakistanis have been deeply hurt by their action," Niazi said.
The minister contended that Rushdie had made no contribution to
literature and, in fact, the British government had negated its own
traditions by knighting him. "In Britain only those are knighted who
have won a Nobel Prize."
He, however, pleaded against a second resolution in the house after
the one passed last Tuesday.
Attaur Rehman of the rightwing conglomerate Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
(MMA) said Pakistan should withdraw as a frontline state in the "war
on terrorism" because it also includes Britain and the US.
Pakistan's three exiled leaders, former prime ministers Benazir
Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf
Hussain, came under fire when some regretted their silence over the
issue.
Bhutto, while admitting that the British action had hurt Muslims
everywhere, had Wednesday issued a statement demanding the dismissal
of Religious Affairs Minister Ejaz-ul-Haq, who justified suicide
attacks by militants in retaliation to Rushdie being knighted.
Punjab assembly speaker Chaudhry Afzal Sahi Thursday declared that
according to Islam, a blasphemer should be killed and if any
blasphemer comes in front of him he "would definitely kill him".
He said the issue of awarding the title of 'Sir' to Rushdie was a
religious issue. Being a Muslim, he said, he was not ready to
compromise on the issue.
"First, I am a Muslim and later the Punjab Assembly speaker," Daily
Times quoted him as saying.
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