It seems as though the Pakistan and Iran governments are upset over the award of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie. Iran claims the knighthood reveals an Islamophobia among British officials. A Pakistani governmental minister said that “if someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act is justified.” Now, that’s the sort of statement that really could lead to “Islamophobia,” but I don’t envisage the Iranian Government condemning it any time soon.
However, Laila Lalami no doubt speaks for the majority of Muslims. At least, I hope so.
This might be a good time for the Governments of Pakistan and Iran to consider giving their minority Christian populations full equal rights. I mean, if these governments demand consideration for their own feelings, they should show a similar consideration for those groups they currently oppress and, every so often, persecute. That makes sense, doesn’t it?
4 comments:
Good one, of course the very peaceful Muslims are justified for destroying the whole world over this. What, the Queen can't Knight someone she likes? She can't knight someone that other people don't like? This incident will lose the terrorists even more of their dhimmidiot appeasers.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
appease religious killers
continue to spoil them
violent tantrums pay off
.
Yes, indeed. Although Laila Lalami's post (the one I link to) does put this more in perpective.
The Pakistani minister who said that, turned out to be the son of ex-President General Zia ul Huq, whom Rushdie had mercilessly pilloried in his novel Shame, also savaging his family, including an intellectually disabled daughter. I remember thinking at the time that this last was in poor taste. So the minister's statement expressed strong personal animus. It was unequivocally condemned by ex-PM Benazir Bhutto and I suspect the educated "elite" agree with her. Unfortunately extreme poverty and lack of education makes it easy for power-mad mullahs to stir up trouble. I'd imagine things aren't very different in Iran.
The Pakistani minister who said that, turned out to be the son of ex-President General Zia ul Huq, whom Rushdie had mercilessly pilloried in his novel Shame, also savaging his family, including an intellectually disabled daughter. I remember thinking at the time that this last was in poor taste. So the minister's statement expressed strong personal animus. It was unequivocally condemned by ex-PM Benazir Bhutto and I suspect the educated "elite" agree with her. Unfortunately extreme poverty and lack of education makes it easy for power-mad mullahs to stir up trouble. I'd imagine things aren't very different in Iran.
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