Sir Salman and the suicide bombers
that Britain has knighted Salman Rushdie. The country's Religious Affairs Minister, Ejaz-ul-Haq, went so far as to tell Pakistan's parliament:
If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act is justified.
Mr ul-Haq later returned to the floor of the parliament and said his words had been misinterpreted; his remarks, he says, were not meant to be a justification of suicide attacks. The words "door", "horse" and "bolted" rather come to mind.
Comments
What a disgrace. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ news tonight showed footage of a Taliban suiicide bombers "graduation" in Pakistan. Instead of spending parliamentary time debating Salman Rushdie's knighthood, Pakistan would be better to spend time working out how to root out terrorists in their midst.
If Pakistan's government rhetoric incites a jihad crusade of suicide bombers infiltrating Britain to force it to limit its exercise of free speech and its own sovereignty to confer knighthood or literary awards without outside veto, would Britain go to war to defend itself against Pakistan? What about under similar circumstances against Brussels? Or perhaps should we just assume Britain is prepared to surrender to mere intimidation? Oh for the good old days when Britainia ruled the waves and fought such glorious battles as the Falkland Islands. What courage, what derring-do, what a triumph for the English speaking mutton eaters of the world. Would someone please pass the claret?
A right Royal mess of Laurel and Hardy proportions, who was the Royal advisor to sanction this Knighthood was it Buster Keaton or was it Charlie Chaplin or maybe was it Tony Blair. Another fine mess.
I do not believe that anyone should dictate to the British government who they decide to honour but I honestly can not believe that no one foresaw the reaction this decision would have across the world. Personally I do not believe that Salman Rhusdie deserves a knoghthood, primarily because he lives in New York, from where he continually criticises the British state. The same British state that has protected him over the past 18 years at a cost of over £10 million. Also I do not believe that he deserves a knighthood for his literay contributions. There are far better living British authors who deserve recognition for their contribution to arts and culture.
On the subject of honours the media have somewhat forgotten that in the next two weeks Tony Blair shall announce his resignation honours list. Over the years these lists have in particular been noted for their generosity to party sponsors, political "cronies" and celebrity friends i.e. Harold Wilson's 'Lavendar List' in 1976. It will be fascinating to see what Tony Blair does. For here is a Prime Minister who smells of sleeze and who may yet be tried in a court of law for trading in "cash-for-honours". Will he act with any more dignity in this his final salvo as he has done over the past ten years? I very much doubt it. Criticism of the honours system is fair, but least it be forgotten that it is the actions of this man and his party that are mostly responsible for the public's perception of the system.