'Queen should withdraw award'

afp

A top Muslim cleric in Indian Kashmir called on Thursday for books by Salman Rushdie to be burned and said Britain had to apologise for awarding the author a knighthood.

A small protest also saw some 200 Muslim youths chant "Death to Rushdie" and "Down with Britain" as they torched effigies of the Indian-born British author, accused of blasphemy against Islam in his 1998 book The Satanic Verses.

"I urge the Queen and her government to withdraw the award and also apologise to the Muslim world for conferring the knighthood title on Rushdie, as it has hurt Muslim sentiments," Grand Mufti Bashir-u-Din said in a statement.

He also urged governments around the world to ban Rushdie's books and called on Kashmiri Muslims to burn them, arguing that Rushdie was still "liable to be killed for rendering gravest injury."

Rushdie was sentenced to death in a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

A hardline militant group, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, called for a one-day strike in the revolt-hit region on Friday.

"The Kashmiri nation has to rise in one voice to show resentment against the shameful decision by observing a complete shutdown," Jamiat spokesman Jameel Ahmed said.

Some booksellers in the summer capital, Srinagar, said they had started withdrawing Rushdie books from their shelves.

"It is a sensitive issue and we have to respect sentiments," said bookseller Bashir Ahmed.

Despite the controversy over The Satanic Verses, many of Rushdie's other novels continue to be sold across the Muslim world. - AFP