UK stands by Sir Salman
Those two in the lower right hand corner look awful cozy! Let the seething continue!
The Home Secretary has refused to apologise for or back down over Salman Rushdie’s knighthood today despite mounting protests in the Muslim world.
John Reid said the knighthood for the Booker Prize-winning author was an example of traditional British tolerance. "I think we have a set of values that accrues people honours? even when they don’t agree with our point of view. That’s our way and that’s what we stand by," he said.
International protests continued today with both the Iraqi Foreign Minister - visting London - and protesters in Malaysia joining Pakistani and Iranian campaigners in criticising the UK Government.
Sit back and enjoy the sheer idiocy of these islaimiacs. Death to the Infidel. Tell me again, what pillar of Islam does that fall under again?
In Multan, central Pakistan, about 300 people chanted "Death to the British queen" and "Death to Rushdie." They burned a British flag and effigies of Queen Elizabeth II and Rushdie.
In Islamabad, a pro-Taliban cleric said Rushdie should be killed. "Whoever is in position to kill him, he should do so," said Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a cleric at the capital's Red Mosque.
Several hundred people, including members of the provincial parliament, protested in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
In Cairo, an Egyptian parliament committee urged the Egyptian foreign affairs ministry to ask British officials to reconsider "out of concern for the feelings of the people of Islamic countries and for the love of peace."
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