தற்கொலைபடையால் தாக்குவோம் என்று பாகிஸ்தான் கூறியதற்கு பிரிட்டன் கண்டனம்

சல்மான் ரஷ்டிக்கு சர் பட்டம் கொடுத்ததினால், பிரிட்டன் மீது தற்கொலை படை தாக்குதல் நடத்துவது நியாயமானது என்று பாகிஸ்தான் அமைச்சர் கூறியதற்கு பிரிட்டன் கண்டனம் தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

பிரிட்டன் மீது ஏன் பாகிஸ்தான் தற்கொலை படை தாக்குதல் நடத்தவேண்டும் என்று தெரியவில்லை. காலாட்படை, கப்பல்படை, விமானப்படை தான் பாகிஸ்தான் கையில் உள்ளதே. ஏன் அவர்கள் பிரிட்டன் மீது தற்கொலைப்படை நடத்தவேண்டும்?


UK concerned over Pakistan threat

Islamabad/London (dpa) - Diplomatic tension between Britain and Pakistan over a knighthood for author Salman Rushdie grew Tuesday as Britain expressed its "deep concern" at reported comments by a Pakistani minister that the honour could provoke radical Muslims to carry out suicide attacks.

The Foreign Office in London said that Britain's high commissioner to Islamabad, Robert Brinkley, had conveyed the "clear message" that, in Britain's view, "nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks."

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, which summoned Brinkley Tuesday, said it had lodged a strong protest against the knighting of Rushdie, amid growing anger over the issue in the country.

"The British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley was told that Pakistanis and Muslims around the world resent the awarding of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Conferring a knighthood on a controversial person whose offensive writings outdo his literary services is really deplorable," she said adding that the decision was an "unnecessary incitement."

Earlier, Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs, Ijaz-ul-Haq, had warned that the decision to knight Rushdie could provoke Muslims into committing suicide attacks.

"The high commissioner made clear the British government's deep concern at what the minister for religious affairs was reported to have said. The British government is very clear that nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks," the Foreign Office in London said.

Rushdie, who turned 60 Tuesday, was given the award in the birthday honours for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Under the British honours system, candidates are recommended by the government, while the recognition is awarded by the monarch.

Iran has also protested at the British decision, saying that the honour given to Rushdie "hurt the sentiments of Muslims" worldwide.

"The move by the British queen has once again hurt the sentiments of all Muslim nations. The question is what the monarchy in Britain wants to achieve by provoking more than one-and-a-half billion Muslims worldwide," the Iranian vice-speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar said.

Rushdie sparked protests in Muslim countries around the world with his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, which a year later became the subject of a fatwa (religious edict) by late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomenei.

During his time in hiding, Rushdie moved house more than 30 times and was under constant British police surveillance. Press reports said Tuesday that Rushdie's security was being reviewed after the latest threats in connection with his knighthood.

Earlier, the upper house of the Pakistani parliament and the provincial assembly of North-West Frontier Province condemned Saturday's announcement from London about the knighting of Rushdie, whose late 1980s novel The Satanic Verses sparked angry protests in Pakistan and other Muslim countries around the world.

"The knighthood award for Rushdie is an insult to the Muslims," said parliamentary leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, Waseem Sajjad, while moving the resolution in the Senate, the upper house of parliament.

"This is a time to create better understanding between people of different faiths and promote interfaith. Such steps as granting a knighthood to Salaman Rushdie will create further clearages in relations between the West and Islam," the motion says.

The two resolutions were approved unanimously and also demanded immediate withdrawal of Rushdie's new title of "Sir."

The lower house National Assembly and the assemblies of Punjab and Sindh provinces denounced the knighthood Monday, while Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs Ijaz-ul-Haq warned that the decision to award Rushdie a knighthood could provoke Muslims to carry out suicide attacks.

Dozens of radical Muslims held protest rallies in the provincial capital of Punjab, Lahore. They burned an effigy of the British queen and chanted "Death for Rushdie." The religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal, called for further demonstrations across the country on Friday.

The denunciation of Rushdie's knighting was also echoed by the Muslim community abroad with the Pakistani-born British peer from the Labour Party, Lord Nazir Ahmed, terming the award a provocative move.

"This is the same way of crusade that Tony Blair has adopted for years," he told Geo news channel from London, adding that the decision would further alienate the Muslim community in Britain.

Rushdie, an Indian-born British novelist, was forced to go into hiding for years after the spiritual leader of Iran's Islamic revolution Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence against the author for blasphemy in a fatwa or decree in 1989.

The fatwa was put aside in 2001 by Iran's former President Mohammad Khatami, who said the country had no intention of carrying out the sentence. However, the Iranian government on Saturday also condemned the knighthood.