Pakistan press slam Rushdie knighthood

Pakistani newspapers lashed out at Salman Rushdie's knighthood, with one saying the ideal revenge would be to make a film about the sex lives of the British royals.
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Iran and Pakistan summoned Britain's ambassadors on Tuesday to protest the award, drawing a retort from London. Protesters in Pakistan have burned effigies of Queen Elizabeth and Rushdie.

The News, a respected English-language daily, said in an editorial that the award for the author of "The Satanic Verses" made a mockery of efforts to tackle Islamic extremism.

"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," it said.

"For Pakistan, struggling domestically to justify its role in the war against terror, her majesty's decision to honour Salman Rushdie can only make the task more arduous," it added.

The paper speculated that British Prime Minister Tony Blair honoured Rushdie because he was "one of the few intellectuals with clout in the west" who had supported the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.

It was also a "farewell gift from hell" from Blair to incoming premier Gordon Brown, the paper said.

A comment piece in The Nation said Rushdie's "anti-Islam antics" had won him the "revered" British accolade, including his support for a British minister who made comments on the wearing of veils by Muslim women.

It said, however, that Rushdie had also targeted Britain in his writings and that "if after all this mudslinging on their person, leadership and monarchy, the British insist on honouring Rushdie, let them be."

Nawa-i-Waqt, a mass circulation Urdu-language paper, suggested that the Rushdie award was part of a conspiracy in the West to defame Muslims.

"If you want to do something meaningful than make a film about Lady Diana's affairs" and those of other members of the British royal family, it said in another comment piece.
source:news.yahoo.com