Salman Rushdie assault was unjustifiable, says former Pakistan PM Imran Khan

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has termed the tried homicide of Salman Rushdie as “terrible and sad,” indicating that whereas the anger within the Islamic world on the Mumbai-born writer’s controversial novel “The Satanic Verses” was comprehensible, the act was unjustifiable, a media report mentioned on Friday.

Rushdie, 75, was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident recognized as Hadi Matar, a US nationwide of Lebanese origin, on stage final week whereas he was being launched at a literary occasion of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

He suffered three stab wounds to his neck, 4 stab wounds to his abdomen, puncture wounds to his proper eye and chest, and a laceration on his proper thigh, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt mentioned through the suspect’s arraignment.

“I think it’s terrible, sad,” Khan mentioned in an interview to the Guardian newspaper, when requested for his response on Rushdie’s assault.

“Rushdie understood, because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that,” Khan instructed the British newspaper.

“So, the anger I understood, but you can’t justify what happened,” he defined.

Khan and Rushdie share an acrimonious relationship.

In 2012, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman had refused to attend a media conclave in New Delhi after he learnt about Rushdie’s participation.

Khan cancelled his participation as a keynote speaker on the conclave stating that he couldn’t consider collaborating in an occasion that included Rushdie, who has prompted “immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe”.

Rushdie’s fourth guide The Satanic Verses, launched in 1988, pressured him into hiding for 9 years.

The late Iranian chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused Rushdie of blasphemy over the guide and in 1989 issued a fatwa towards him, calling for his dying.

Rushdie’s writing has led to dying threats from Iran, which has provided a USD 3 million reward for anybody who kills him.