A Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader on Friday threatened the British High Commission in Islamabad with a suicide attack if the British government did not withdraw the knighthood title awarded to Salman Rushdie.“Like other Muslims, I am a true lover of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I warn the British government that if it does not withdraw its decision to award the knighthood to the blasphemer, I will carry out a suicide attack on the British High Commission in Islamabad,” said local PAT leader Umer Riaz Abbasi on Friday at a rally in G-9 Markaz.
Amid loud sloganeering against the British government and Rushdie at the rally, PAT Islamabad president Syed Sadaqat Banori supported suicide attacks on Rushdie and those who support him. “We cannot allow anyone to blaspheme against our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). For His honour, we can sacrifice our lives,” he said. The rally resounded with loud ‘ayes’ and participants raised their hands when Banori asked them if they were ready to lay down their lives for the honour of the Prophet.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) also protested the knighthood to Rushdie in a demonstration in G-9. National Assembly opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman told protestors that by knighting a blasphemer the British government had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims throughout the world. Rehman also slammed Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairwoman Benazir Bhutto for opposing suicide attacks on blasphemers. He said Benazir had sided with ‘Rushdie supporters’. MMA national assembly minister from Islamabad Mian Muhammad Aslam and local leader Maulana Nazir Farooqi slammed the west, especially Britain, for encouraging and honouring “enemies of Islam”.