Re: Imran Khan refuses to attend India conclave in Salman Rushdie's presence
i can see Nikhil's soft corner for Rushdie. I would like to see if Rushdie has the guts to publically condemn the believers of Holocaust and declare it a fallacy and face the music. Lets see what happens to the freedom of speech then. He would have hard time keeping his British nationality.
why would rushdie declare the holocaust a fabrication if he doesn't believe it's a fabrication? are you saying that rushdie is a holocaust-denier and is afraid to admit it? i doubt this is the case.
just this expectation is enough to suggest how infantile your view of political maneuvering really is......
I'd like to see one politician worth his/her weight openly declare that they are doing something to gain support of any wing through a particular action or statement. Most people commenting on a politician's stance will be able to decipher as much without it being spelled out.
it's not about courage at all.......
um, i didn't mean it literally (at least not the second quote). although if it was simply risk management, he certainly could've given the first quote. imran khan, however, decided to make it a political stunt and argue the case against free speech in televised interviews.
Re: Imran Khan refuses to attend India conclave in Salman Rushdie's presence
i didn't say it was idiotic or that it isn't his right to withdraw. i said it was a lame political stunt and the rationale he gave was low quality. his replies sounded silly. if he had the courage, he could have simply said "barkha, pakistani society is extremely polarized right now and and as an aspiring politician i would be vulnerable to attacks" or perhaps "barkha, i need the electoral support of the religious right wing and this withdrawal enhances my credibility with them".
these were your words.....right?
looks to me like you wrote what you meant......literal or not.
um, i didn't mean it literally (at least not the second quote). although if it was simply risk management, he certainly could've given the first quote. imran khan, however, decided to make it a political stunt and argue the case against free speech in televised interviews.
again....your ability to critique political "stunts" leaves a lot to be desired.
perhaps I'll re-engage when you mean what you say......for now I'm out as there seems to be a great deal of back-tracking in your comments.
Re: Imran Khan refuses to attend India conclave in Salman Rushdie's presence
I am reading Imran Khan's latest book (basically an autobiagraphy), I'll paste later today his comments about Rushdie and this book is more than one year old.
Re: Imran Khan refuses to attend India conclave in Salman Rushdie's presence
This is from Imran Khan Pakistan - A personal history (page 99)
"My need to explore religion was spurred on by the furore over Salman Rushdie's The satanic verses. Muslims understandably found the book deeply offensive in its satirical portrayal of the prophet Muhammad (SAW). I t hurt more because Rushdie was from a muslim Indian family and must have known the outrage it would cause. You cannot hide behind the freedom of speech to humiliate an entire religion and cause so much hurt. Most muslims felt insulted and responded by refusing to read the book but there was always going to be extreme reaction from certain quarters. Every society is made up mainly of moderates but has its extremists and the extremist elements of the Islamic world erupted. Only a minuscule proportion of the international muslim community reacted with violence but all 1.3 billion muslims were tarnished."