|
'Down with Britain'
22/06/2007 09:51 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| Activists burn an effigy of Salman Rushdie in Srinagar, India. (Rafiq Maqbool, AP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Srinagar, India - Most shops, offices and schools were closed on Friday in India's Muslim-majority Kashmir region to protest against Britain awarding a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie who has been accused of insulting Islam.
The strike was called by the Islamic rebel group Jamiat-ul-Mujahedeen, one of several groups protesting predominantly Hindu India's rule in the divided Himalayan state.
In Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, many shops, businesses and schools heeded the strike call. But some parts of downtown remained open for business, and traffic was steady on the roads.
In neighbouring Budgam, all schools and shops in the district's five towns were closed and traffic was thin, said Ashiq Bukhari, a senior police official.
Budgam is about 25km southwest of Srinagar.
While no violence has been reported so far, police and security forces were on alert to thwart any widespread protests.
Indian Kashmir's largest rebel group, Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, and several political parties and religious groups have called for mass protests after Friday prayers later in the day, and urged their followers to burn effigies of Rushdie, whose Book The Satanic Verses was said to insult Islam.
"Awarding knighthood on Rushdie amounts to a blatant anti-Muslim bias, and Muslims all over the world condemn the move," said Junaid-ul-Islam, a spokesperson of the Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, in a telephone call to Current News Service, a local news agency.
On Thursday, nearly 200 supporters of the Jammu-Kashmir People's Freedom League - an Islamic separatist group - burned effigies of Rushdie and chanted "Hang Salman Rushdie" and "Down with Britain" as they marched through Srinagar.
Mufti Mohammad Bashir-ud-din, head of Kashmir's Islamic court, said in a statement that Rushdie was "liable to be killed for rendering the gravest injury to the sentiments of the Muslims across the world".
Bashir-ud-din is a government-appointed religious head and has the authority to issue legal opinions and decrees on interpretations of Islamic law.
In 1989, Iran's then-spiritual leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa or religious edict ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie for his book, The Satanic Verses.
The threat forced Rushdie, who lives in Britain, into hiding for a decade.
Britain has defended its decision to honour Rushdie, one of the most prominent novelists of the late 20th century. His 13 books have won numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981.
- AP
|
