Pakistan summoned the British high commissioner to the foreign ministry on Tuesday, officials from both sides said, amid mounting anger at the award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie. British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley was due to visit the foreign ministry in Islamabad later in the day, High Commission spokesman Aidan Liddle told AFP.
He could not provide any further details. Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam confirmed that Brinkley had been summoned and said that he would receive a copy of resolutions passed by parliament against the knighthood.
Pakistan's upper and lower houses of parliament have both called for Britain to withdraw the award given to Rushdie, the Indian-born author of 'The Satanic Verses'. Rushdie was awarded a knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday for services to literature. Rushdie was forced to go into hiding for a decade after Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 issued a death sentence over his book, saying it was blasphemous.
Brinkley issued a statement late Monday defending the award, saying it was "simply untrue that this knighthood is intended as an insult to Islam or the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)." "Sir Salman's knighthood is a reflection of his contribution to literature throughout a long and distinguished career which has seen him receive international recognition for a substantial body of work," said Brinkley. NWFP legislators earlier on Tuesday called for Islamabad to summon the British envoy and cut diplomatic ties with London.
Conservatives in Iran have also lashed out at Britain. Hard-line daily Jomhuri Eslami described the British queen as an 'old crone' and linked the award of the knighthood - which marked the queen's 81st birthday - to a controversial party at the British embassy in Tehran on Thursday celebrating the same occasion. Dozens of Islamist students protested against the party, hurling stones, eggs and paint-filled bags outside the doors of the compound and vented their anger against Iranians who attended the event.
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