'This man should be barred for life from entering into India and the government can not give the excuse of PIOs,' Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani said.
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Wednesday said there should be a life ban on Salman Rushdie's entry into India, and that the government should decide "at the earliest" on the issue without giving "excuses".
While responding to the Law Minister Salman Khurshid's response to his call of barring the writer from entering the country Vice-Chancellor Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani said, " This man(Rushdie) should be barred for life from entering into India and the government can not give the excuse of PIOs."
The government has several ways of keeping the writer out of the country and it is a matter of faith, Nomani said.
Khurshid today said that anybody having objections to the provision of PIO not requiring visa to visit the country can take up their complaints with the competent authority or courts.
Noting that under the existing provisions, a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) can visit the country without any visa and that Rushdie could be possibly be trying to come here likewise, he added "but the implications of legal rights that overseas Indians have...can be tested before competent authority or before the courts, if the need be."
Earlier on January 9, Deoband had said the government should cancel Rushdie's visa as he had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past leading to the current row.
Rushdie, 65, who had invited the wrath of Muslims due to his novel 'The Satanic Verses' is set to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival this month end.
The Indian-origin author visited the literary extravaganza in the Pink City in 2007.
While Rushdie has brushed aside opposition to his India trip saying he does not need a visa to visit the country.
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