大象传媒

Salman Rushdie hasn't been out of the headlines in India much in the past few months. When the organisers of the Jaipur literary festival abandoned plans for him to speak because of fears that protests by Muslim groups might lead to violence, Mr Rushdie called the move a "black farce" that stifled free speech.

A few weeks earlier Imran Khan used his appearance at the literary festival in Calcutta to accuse Mr Rushdie of "inflicting pain on society" through his writing.

And in a similar vein Mr Khan declined to come to this weekend's conference in Delhi. Salman Rushdie's writing, he said, "had caused immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe".

Salman Rushdie said he doubted that Imran Khan had ever read The Satanic Verses.

Warming to his subject, Salman Rushdie pointed out what he believes to be a physical likeness between Imran Khan and Muammar Gaddafi. "If you were to make a film about Gaddafi's life, and you wanted a slightly better looking version," Mr Rushdie said, "you might cast Imran Khan."

It was this comparison several English-language papers in Pakistan picked up as a headline for their coverage of the Delhi event.

The Express Tribune also published the result of a poll: 76% of its readers, it said, agreed with Imran Khan's decision to pull out of his Delhi speaking engagement. There has been no official reaction to Salman Rushdie's comments either in India or in Pakistan.