London, June 19: Protesting against Britain's decision to Knight Salman Rushdie, an Iranian Group on Tuesday announced an 80,000 pound bounty on his head prompting the authorities to review the security of the controversial India-born author.
The Scotland Yard is reviewing security around Rushdie, who turned 60 today, and is all set to get round the clock police protection.
The bounty was offered by the Tehran-based hardliners 'the organisation to commemorate the martyrs of the Muslim world', which said it would pay an 80,000 pounds reward for anyone "who was able to execute the apostate Salman Rushdie".
Rushdie spent a decade under the threat of an Islamist death sentence after his book the satanic verses was deemed blasphemous over its irreverent depiction of the prophet.
Bureau Report
80,000 pounds bounty on head of Rushdie
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Muslims hold new protests against Rushdie award
Islamabad, June 20: Outrage mounted in the Muslim world Wednesday over Britain`s knighthood for Salman Rushdie, with protests spreading to Malaysia and a top Pakistani cleric calling for the novelist to be killed.
The rallies came a day after both Pakistan and Iran -- whose late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced the "Satanic Verses" author to death in 1989 -- summoned Britain`s ambassadors to protest.
In Kuala Lumpur about 20 members of Malaysia`s main Islamic opposition, the Pan-Malaysia Islamic party, shouted "Go to hell Britain! Go to hell Rushdie!" outside the British High Commission.
They handed a one-page memorandum to the British envoy during the rare half-hour demonstration, which was watched by police with riot shields and helmets. The police contingent was about as large as the protest.
"In the name of peace and mutual respect, we demand that the award be withdrawn, and the British government distance itself from a provocateur like Salman Rushdie," party president Abdul Hadi Awang said in a statement.
In Islamabad, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of two brothers who runs the hardline Red Mosque, backed comments by Pakistan`s religious affairs minister that the knighthood justified suicide attacks by Muslims.
"Salman Rushdie deserves to be killed and anyone who has the power must kill him," Ghazi said in a statement. He added that if the Pakistani government cooperated "we will make arrangements to murder... Rushdie here."
Around 300 female Islamists wearing all-covering burqas and waving flags and placards blocked the road outside the Pakistani parliament.
"He is not a famous writer, why has he been given such a rare title? This is really a move against Muslims," said Samia Raheel Qazi, an MP and head of the women`s wing of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Another 300 people torched an effigy of Rushdie in the southern city of Karachi, while hundreds more burned British flags and dummies of the writer in the central city of Multan.
Britain responded to the summoning of its ambassador on Tuesday by voicing "deep concern" at the suicide attack comments by religious affairs minister Ijaz-ul-Haq. The minister later withdrew his remarks.
Pakistani newspapers lashed out at the knighthood on Wednesday, with one saying the ideal revenge would be to make a movie about the sex lives of the British royals.
"Britain`s decision to bestow a knighthood on Salman Rushdie is one of those inexplicable follies that seem designed to rally the forces of resurgent extremism in today`s dangerously unstable world," said the News, a respected English-language daily.
Nawa-i-Waqt, a mass circulation Urdu-language paper, said in a comment piece that "if you want to do something meaningful, then make a film about Lady Diana`s affairs" and those of other members of the British royal family.
In Afghanistan, the ultra-Islamic Taliban movement, which is leading a bloody insurgency five years after its ouster by US-led forces, condemned Britain`s action.
"This is a clear enmity with Islam and Muslims. We ask Britain to take back what they have done and to apologise to Muslims," said a Taliban statement read to AFP over the telephone by spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi.
Rushdie, who turned 60 on Tuesday, has spent the last 18 years living under the shadow of the Iranian fatwa calling for his death, which has never been formally revoked.
His exact whereabouts now are not known, but he is believed to divide his time between London and New York.
His knighthood for services to literature, which was announced Saturday in the queen`s traditional birthday honours list, means he can call himself Sir Salman.
The Guardian newspaper reported on its website Wednesday that the committee that recommended Rushdie for the honour did not discuss possible political ramifications and never imagined it would provoke Muslim anger.
It also said that the writers` organisation that led the lobbying for him to be knighted had originally hoped the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia.
Bureau Report
Islamabad, June 20: Outrage mounted in the Muslim world Wednesday over Britain`s knighthood for Salman Rushdie, with protests spreading to Malaysia and a top Pakistani cleric calling for the novelist to be killed.
The rallies came a day after both Pakistan and Iran -- whose late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced the "Satanic Verses" author to death in 1989 -- summoned Britain`s ambassadors to protest.
In Kuala Lumpur about 20 members of Malaysia`s main Islamic opposition, the Pan-Malaysia Islamic party, shouted "Go to hell Britain! Go to hell Rushdie!" outside the British High Commission.
They handed a one-page memorandum to the British envoy during the rare half-hour demonstration, which was watched by police with riot shields and helmets. The police contingent was about as large as the protest.
"In the name of peace and mutual respect, we demand that the award be withdrawn, and the British government distance itself from a provocateur like Salman Rushdie," party president Abdul Hadi Awang said in a statement.
In Islamabad, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of two brothers who runs the hardline Red Mosque, backed comments by Pakistan`s religious affairs minister that the knighthood justified suicide attacks by Muslims.
"Salman Rushdie deserves to be killed and anyone who has the power must kill him," Ghazi said in a statement. He added that if the Pakistani government cooperated "we will make arrangements to murder... Rushdie here."
Around 300 female Islamists wearing all-covering burqas and waving flags and placards blocked the road outside the Pakistani parliament.
"He is not a famous writer, why has he been given such a rare title? This is really a move against Muslims," said Samia Raheel Qazi, an MP and head of the women`s wing of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Another 300 people torched an effigy of Rushdie in the southern city of Karachi, while hundreds more burned British flags and dummies of the writer in the central city of Multan.
Britain responded to the summoning of its ambassador on Tuesday by voicing "deep concern" at the suicide attack comments by religious affairs minister Ijaz-ul-Haq. The minister later withdrew his remarks.
Pakistani newspapers lashed out at the knighthood on Wednesday, with one saying the ideal revenge would be to make a movie about the sex lives of the British royals.
"Britain`s decision to bestow a knighthood on Salman Rushdie is one of those inexplicable follies that seem designed to rally the forces of resurgent extremism in today`s dangerously unstable world," said the News, a respected English-language daily.
Nawa-i-Waqt, a mass circulation Urdu-language paper, said in a comment piece that "if you want to do something meaningful, then make a film about Lady Diana`s affairs" and those of other members of the British royal family.
In Afghanistan, the ultra-Islamic Taliban movement, which is leading a bloody insurgency five years after its ouster by US-led forces, condemned Britain`s action.
"This is a clear enmity with Islam and Muslims. We ask Britain to take back what they have done and to apologise to Muslims," said a Taliban statement read to AFP over the telephone by spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi.
Rushdie, who turned 60 on Tuesday, has spent the last 18 years living under the shadow of the Iranian fatwa calling for his death, which has never been formally revoked.
His exact whereabouts now are not known, but he is believed to divide his time between London and New York.
His knighthood for services to literature, which was announced Saturday in the queen`s traditional birthday honours list, means he can call himself Sir Salman.
The Guardian newspaper reported on its website Wednesday that the committee that recommended Rushdie for the honour did not discuss possible political ramifications and never imagined it would provoke Muslim anger.
It also said that the writers` organisation that led the lobbying for him to be knighted had originally hoped the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia.
Bureau Report
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`Sir` title sought for Bin Laden
Islamabad, June 20: A hardline Pakistani parliamentarian and head of a religious political party Wednesday demanded title `Sir` for Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, in retaliation to Britain knighting author Salman Rushdie.
`Muslims should confer the `sir` title and all other awards on Bin Laden and Mullah Omar in reply to Britain`s shameful decision to knight Rushdie,` Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement, referring also to the leader of the Taliban.
Such a move would not only go against the political grain of Britain, who joined in the international effort to drive the Taliban from power and Al Qaeda from their Afghan safe haven in 2001, but it would also break knighthood rules, under which foreigners may not be addressed as sir.
Rushdie, 60, was given the recognition at birthday honours for Britain`s Queen Elizabeth II Saturday, about two decades after his book `The Satanic Verses` sparked protests in Muslim countries, including Pakistan, in 1989.
The novel also became the subject in the same year of a fatwa, a religious edict, by late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomenei, who demanded Rushdie`s death.
`Europe and Western nations are intentionally pushing Muslims towards extremism by awarding a nefarious person,` Haq said. The hardline leader, who is also a parliament member, called upon the Pakistani government to withdraw its support to the US-led war on terrorism.
The honour for Rushdie triggered diplomatic tensions between Islamabad and London Tuesday as the Pakistani foreign office summoned Britain`s high commissioner to Islamabad, Robert Brinkley, to protest the award.
Britain in return expressed deep concern over comments by a Pakistani minister that the honour could provoke radical Muslims to carry out suicide attacks. Brinkley had conveyed the `clear message` that, in Britain`s view, `nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks,` the Foreign Office in London said.
Earlier, thousands of Pakistanis held protest rallies in various cities and burned British flags and effigies of Queen Elizabeth II. The supporters of a radical Islamic group in the eastern city of Lahore were planning Wednesday to stage a public hanging of an effigy of Rushdie, an Indian-born author who is under constant British police surveillance and has moved house more than 30 times in two decades of hiding. According to press reports, British police are reviewing his security after threats from Islamic extremists since his knighthood.
Bureau Report
Islamabad, June 20: A hardline Pakistani parliamentarian and head of a religious political party Wednesday demanded title `Sir` for Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, in retaliation to Britain knighting author Salman Rushdie.
`Muslims should confer the `sir` title and all other awards on Bin Laden and Mullah Omar in reply to Britain`s shameful decision to knight Rushdie,` Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement, referring also to the leader of the Taliban.
Such a move would not only go against the political grain of Britain, who joined in the international effort to drive the Taliban from power and Al Qaeda from their Afghan safe haven in 2001, but it would also break knighthood rules, under which foreigners may not be addressed as sir.
Rushdie, 60, was given the recognition at birthday honours for Britain`s Queen Elizabeth II Saturday, about two decades after his book `The Satanic Verses` sparked protests in Muslim countries, including Pakistan, in 1989.
The novel also became the subject in the same year of a fatwa, a religious edict, by late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomenei, who demanded Rushdie`s death.
`Europe and Western nations are intentionally pushing Muslims towards extremism by awarding a nefarious person,` Haq said. The hardline leader, who is also a parliament member, called upon the Pakistani government to withdraw its support to the US-led war on terrorism.
The honour for Rushdie triggered diplomatic tensions between Islamabad and London Tuesday as the Pakistani foreign office summoned Britain`s high commissioner to Islamabad, Robert Brinkley, to protest the award.
Britain in return expressed deep concern over comments by a Pakistani minister that the honour could provoke radical Muslims to carry out suicide attacks. Brinkley had conveyed the `clear message` that, in Britain`s view, `nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks,` the Foreign Office in London said.
Earlier, thousands of Pakistanis held protest rallies in various cities and burned British flags and effigies of Queen Elizabeth II. The supporters of a radical Islamic group in the eastern city of Lahore were planning Wednesday to stage a public hanging of an effigy of Rushdie, an Indian-born author who is under constant British police surveillance and has moved house more than 30 times in two decades of hiding. According to press reports, British police are reviewing his security after threats from Islamic extremists since his knighthood.
Bureau Report
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Pak hardliners honour "Saifullah" bin Laden in Rushdie row
Islamabad, June 21: A group of hardline Pakistani Muslim clerics has bestowed a religious title on Osama bin Laden in response to a British knighthood for the author Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" outraged many Muslims around the world, was awarded a knighthood last week for services to literature in Queen Elizabeth's birthday honours list.
Muslims say the novel, published in 1988, blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammad and ridiculed the Koran and events in early Muslim history.
Pakistan and Iran have protested the honour and small demonstrations against it have been held in various parts of Pakistan and in Malaysia.
A group of clerics, the Pakistan Ulema Council, has given bin Laden the title "Saifullah", or sword of Allah, in response to the honour for Rushdie, the council's chairman said on Thursday.
"If a blasphemer can be given the title 'Sir' by the West despite the fact he's hurt the feelings of Muslims, then a Mujahid who has been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British must be given the lofty title of Islam, Saifullah," the chairman, Tahir Ashrafi, told reporters.
A Mujahid is a Muslim holy warrior. Bin Laden was one of many Arabs who helped Afghan guerrillas battle Soviet invaders in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Dismissal call
In a related development, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Pakistan's Minister of Religious Affairs should be dismissed for suggesting suicide bombs were a justified response to Rushdie's knighthood.
On Monday, Pakistan's Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the knighthood and said Britain should withdraw it.
Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejaz-ul-Haq told the assembly insults to Islam were at the root of terrorism, and added that if someone committed a suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act was justified.
He later said he did not mean such attacks would be justified but was merely saying militants could use the knighthood as a justification.
But Bhutto said Haq had justified suicide attacks on a British citizen.
"The minister... son of a previous military dictator who had patronised extremist groups, had done a great disservice both to the image of Islam and the standing of Pakistan by calling for the murder of foreign citizens," Bhutto said in a statement.
Haq is the son of military President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, whose policies of Islamisation in the 1980s are often blamed for sowing the seeds of Islamist militancy.
Zia overthrew Bhutto's father, then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in 1977. Bhutto was executed two years later.
Benazir called on the government to dismiss Haq, although adding that the sentiments of a majority of Muslims had been outraged by the knighthood.
Britain said it was deeply concerned about Haq's comments and nothing could justify suicide bombings. Britain has also defended the knighthood for Rushdie.
The speaker of the National Assembly expunged Haq's comments from the record of proceedings, citing the national interest.
Bhutto has lived in self-imposed exile for nearly a decade and faces corruption accusations both at home and abroad. She denies corruption and has vowed to return home.
The speaker of the provincial assembly in Punjab province said blasphemers should be killed while Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of Pakistan's ruling party, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair was "personally and mentally against Islam".
Bureau Report
Islamabad, June 21: A group of hardline Pakistani Muslim clerics has bestowed a religious title on Osama bin Laden in response to a British knighthood for the author Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" outraged many Muslims around the world, was awarded a knighthood last week for services to literature in Queen Elizabeth's birthday honours list.
Muslims say the novel, published in 1988, blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammad and ridiculed the Koran and events in early Muslim history.
Pakistan and Iran have protested the honour and small demonstrations against it have been held in various parts of Pakistan and in Malaysia.
A group of clerics, the Pakistan Ulema Council, has given bin Laden the title "Saifullah", or sword of Allah, in response to the honour for Rushdie, the council's chairman said on Thursday.
"If a blasphemer can be given the title 'Sir' by the West despite the fact he's hurt the feelings of Muslims, then a Mujahid who has been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British must be given the lofty title of Islam, Saifullah," the chairman, Tahir Ashrafi, told reporters.
A Mujahid is a Muslim holy warrior. Bin Laden was one of many Arabs who helped Afghan guerrillas battle Soviet invaders in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Dismissal call
In a related development, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Pakistan's Minister of Religious Affairs should be dismissed for suggesting suicide bombs were a justified response to Rushdie's knighthood.
On Monday, Pakistan's Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the knighthood and said Britain should withdraw it.
Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejaz-ul-Haq told the assembly insults to Islam were at the root of terrorism, and added that if someone committed a suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act was justified.
He later said he did not mean such attacks would be justified but was merely saying militants could use the knighthood as a justification.
But Bhutto said Haq had justified suicide attacks on a British citizen.
"The minister... son of a previous military dictator who had patronised extremist groups, had done a great disservice both to the image of Islam and the standing of Pakistan by calling for the murder of foreign citizens," Bhutto said in a statement.
Haq is the son of military President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, whose policies of Islamisation in the 1980s are often blamed for sowing the seeds of Islamist militancy.
Zia overthrew Bhutto's father, then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in 1977. Bhutto was executed two years later.
Benazir called on the government to dismiss Haq, although adding that the sentiments of a majority of Muslims had been outraged by the knighthood.
Britain said it was deeply concerned about Haq's comments and nothing could justify suicide bombings. Britain has also defended the knighthood for Rushdie.
The speaker of the National Assembly expunged Haq's comments from the record of proceedings, citing the national interest.
Bhutto has lived in self-imposed exile for nearly a decade and faces corruption accusations both at home and abroad. She denies corruption and has vowed to return home.
The speaker of the provincial assembly in Punjab province said blasphemers should be killed while Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of Pakistan's ruling party, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair was "personally and mentally against Islam".
Bureau Report
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Pak asks OIC to take stand on Rushdie`s knighthood
Islamabad, June 25: Apparently surprised by the subdued reaction to the knighting of author Salman Rushdie from prominent Islamic countries, Pakistan has "formally approached" the Organisation of Islamic Conference asking it to take a stand on the issue.
"We have formally approached OIC to take a position. As regards on other countries I would not comment on their decision," Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told reporters here today when asked about the "low-key reaction" from OIC and Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to the issue.
Pakistan kicked up a major row on knighting of the India-born author by Britain alleging that he was being honored despite his "blasphemous" writing.
While its Parliament passed two resolution demanding the withdrawal of the honour, Pakistan foreign office summoned British High Commissioner to Islamabad and conveyed its displeasure.
Pakistan also charged Britain of violating the un resolution to promote understanding between different religious faiths by honouring Rushdie. Responding to questions on killing of several Pakistani civilians during clashes between NATO forces and Taliban near border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Aslam said Pakistan has already lodged strong protest with NATO on the incident.
She also asked NATO forces in Afghanistan to ensure better coordination, care and restraint while operating close to Pak-Afghan border.
Bureau Report
Islamabad, June 25: Apparently surprised by the subdued reaction to the knighting of author Salman Rushdie from prominent Islamic countries, Pakistan has "formally approached" the Organisation of Islamic Conference asking it to take a stand on the issue.
"We have formally approached OIC to take a position. As regards on other countries I would not comment on their decision," Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told reporters here today when asked about the "low-key reaction" from OIC and Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to the issue.
Pakistan kicked up a major row on knighting of the India-born author by Britain alleging that he was being honored despite his "blasphemous" writing.
While its Parliament passed two resolution demanding the withdrawal of the honour, Pakistan foreign office summoned British High Commissioner to Islamabad and conveyed its displeasure.
Pakistan also charged Britain of violating the un resolution to promote understanding between different religious faiths by honouring Rushdie. Responding to questions on killing of several Pakistani civilians during clashes between NATO forces and Taliban near border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Aslam said Pakistan has already lodged strong protest with NATO on the incident.
She also asked NATO forces in Afghanistan to ensure better coordination, care and restraint while operating close to Pak-Afghan border.
Bureau Report