28 Jan 2012 05:24:27
Salman Rushdie, who was forced to pull out of Asia's biggest literary festival in India after authorities revealed "specific intelligence" of a death threat against him, has said he believes the information was false.
"I've investigated, and believe that I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry," the British writer wrote on Twitter.
Rushdie was scheduled to be one of the stars of the Jaipur Literature Festival in the capital of the state of Rajasthan, in north-west India.
Two weeks before the event, a senior conservative cleric and Islamic groups began a campaign to stop the 64-year-old author attending, saying his most famous and controversial work, The Satanic Verses, was offensive to Muslims.
The publication of the book in 1988 prompted a fatwa calling for Rushdie to be killed from the Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruohollah Khomenini and sent its author into hiding.
Despite festival organisers' efforts to ensure his security, Rushdie pulled out of the event citing "specific information" from "intelligence sources" that assassins had been sent by organised crime bosses to "eliminate" him.
Security experts immediately cast doubt on the claim and Rushdie himself admitted he was unsure of its reliability. He said it would be "irresponsible" to travel to the festival in the circumstances. But there were still hopes on Monday that the author would be able to address the conference by video link.
One of the festival's organiers, the British author William Dalrymple, said on Monday: "Salman is all set to do the video link tomorrow and we are all set to host it. But we've just learned from the Rajasthan government that we need their permission to show it, and we're now in the process of submitting a request.
"We will only stop if the government comes out and formally denies us permission, [and] if permission is denied that will produce a clarity about the Rajasthan government's stand on Salman, which we previously haven't had."
"We fully support Salman Rushdie … The only thing we can't do is break the laws of this country and sadly, reading from The Satanic Verses is an imprisonable, criminal act. We've just heard that complainants have petitioned several different local courts to get the police to file a formal case against the authors and the festival producers, and although no case has yet been filed it is quite serious. The cops turned up within 45 minutes of the readings taking place."
"It's been an extremely frustrating week but our position is really quite simple. We'll do everything we can within the law of the country to stand up for free speech."
Nearly 50,000 visitors have so far attended the Jaipur Literature Festival to listen to more than 250 writers speak. Huge crowds turned up to see Oprah Winfrey, the US television presenter who is filming a show in India, on Sunday morning.
Thousands also watched the novelists Ben Okri and Michael Ondaatje as well as playwrights Tom Stoppard and David Hare.
Rushdie's withdrawal prompted several writers, including British author Hari Kunzru, to publicly read from The Satanic Verses in protest. The book is banned in India and a public reading potentially punishable by imprisonment.
The organisers of the festival, which risked being shut down by police following the protest readings, issued a statement stressing that they had no prior knowledge of the readings. They also contacted participants to ask them to obey local laws.
On Monday, four courts in India accepted complaints from members of the public claiming that Kunzru, who cut short his stay in India following his protest, and three other writers had broken the law.
Analysts in India say the controversy is, at least in part, due to the sensitive political situation in India, where a series of crucial provincial elections will be held in coming weeks. In all, the votes of the substantial Muslim minority are crucial.
The government of Rajasthan, which informed Rushdie of the alleged assassination plot, said the charge that they had deliberately exaggerated any threat to dissuade the author from attending the festival was "baseless".
However, a report in the Hindu newspaper said that the supposed ganglords intent on killing Rushdie did not in fact exist. It quoted a senior policeman in Mumbai, where the hitmen were supposed to be based, saying only one of the three men identified actually existed and that he was under 24-hour surveillance.
"I received a call from one of Mr Rushdie's friends on Friday, asking about these names," the newspaper quoted a senior officer of the Mumbai police. "I thanked him for giving me something to laugh about."
The Hindu said the director-general of Maharashtra's state police, PK Subramaniam, denied his force had provided information on any potential threat to Rushdie.
