Govt unlikely to stop Salman Rushdie to travel to India

Controversial author Salman Rushdie is unlikely to be stopped by the Government from travelling to India as he holds a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card which entitles him to visit the country without visa.

Official sources said since PIO card guarantees any Person of Indian Origin hassle-free travel without any document, Rushdie is not required to apply to any authority of the Government seeking permission for his proposed visit to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival this month end.

"He had travelled to India in the past using PIO card. We have never stopped him. We have no intention to stop any PIO card holder to travel to his or her home country in future either," a source said.

Apart from the PIO card, Indian-origin Rushdie has a British passport.

Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani had said on Monday that the "Indian government should cancel his visa as Rushdie had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past".

65-year-old Rushdie had earned the wrath of Muslims worldwide due to the alleged blasphemous content in his novel "The Satanic Verses" which was published in 1988.

The novel, which was banned by India, had sparked outrage in the Muslim world. A fatwa was issued against him by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on February 14, 1989 ordering Muslims to execute Rushdie.

The Iranian government backed the fatwa till 1998 when the country ruled by President Mohammad Khatami said his government no longer supported the killing of Rushdie.