Pak cleric issues fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie

ISLAMABAD: The prayer leader of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, has decreed the killing of Salman Rushdie, the India-born author who was recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Ghazi said whoever kills Rushdie would secure a place in paradise.

Ghazi formally issued the fatwa on Thursday. “Salman Rushdie deserves to be killed, and anyone who is in a position to do so must eliminate him physically,” Ghazi said.  “I call upon all valiant Muslims, wherever they may be in the world, to carry out this sentence, so that no one henceforth dares to insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims.”

Ghazi endorsed the remarks made by Ejazul Haq, Pakistan’s federal religious affairs minister, who had said in the National Assembly: “If someone commits suicide bombing against Rushdie to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act would be justified.”

Ghazi said the masjid’s death squad was willing to offer its expertise to the Pakistan government. “We are ready to make arrangements in collaboration with the government to arrange for Rushdie’s murder,” Ghazi said.  The government has not yet responded to the offer of establishing a private-public partnership to execute the mission.

Ghazi’s concentration on the Rushdie project might be disrupted by a defamation suit filed by Nilofar Bakhtiar, Pakistan’s former tourism minister. She has served Ghazi a legal notice in which she seeks his apology for damaging her reputation.

A ‘Sharia court’ established by Ghazi had issued a decree against Bakhtiar for hugging a Frenchman after a paragliding sortie in Paris. Ghazi’s court ruled that religious regulations did not allow such an embrace after paragliding sorties in Paris.