Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has commented on the attack on Salman Rushdie, a novelist of Indian origin, calling it ‘terrible’ and ‘sad’.
“I think it’s terrible, sad,“ Khan replied, when asked about the attack in an interview with The Guardian published Friday.
Khan noted that Salman Rushdie’s 1988 book ‘The Satanic Verses’ had turned many Muslims against him. However, he said, Rushdie comes from a Muslim family, and he believes he understands the respect for the Prophet that lives in the hearts of Muslims.
Khan further noted that he understands the anger provoked by the book, however, it does not justify the assault, he concluded.
‘No One Has Right to Accuse Iran’ in Rushdie Attack, Anti-Islamic Author Made Himself Target: Tehran
15 August 2022, 11:32 GMT
Rushdie is a celebrated India-born British-American author and winner of numerous literary prizes. In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran at the time, issued an edict calling for the killing of Rushdie, whose book "The Satanic Verses" is viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims.