“What People Like Salman Rush-DIE, Taslima NOISE-Rin, Irshad MAN-ji & HERESY Ali Are Doing Is Like An Individual Going to the Market Place & Making Jokes About the Private Parts of His / Her Parents to the Utter DELIGHT of the Enemies of His / Her Parents.” - AB
Rushdie row 'a shock to knighthood committee'
20.06.07
http://www.thisislo ndon.co.uk/ news/article- 23401260- details/Rushdie% 20row%20'a%20shock%20to% 20knighthood% 20committee'/article.do
The committee that proposed Salman Rushdie for a knighthood failed to consider whether it would provoke a negative reaction from the Muslim world, it was claimed today. The group, which put forward the Indian-born author for the Queen's birthday honours, believed the decision would improve relations between Britain and Asia.
The committee, chaired by investment banker Lord Rothschild, included BBC director Jenny Abramsky, former Sunday Telegraph theatre critic John Gross and former editor of the Independent Andreas Whittam Smith.
Mr Whittam Smith said: "We were concerned only with merit."
The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the knighthood as a "provocation" but called for restraint from Muslims. It said the author had "earned notoriety throughout the world for the vilifying manner in which he portrayed Islamic figures".
Meanwhile, Whitehall sources have claimed the controversial nomination for Rushdie's knighthood came from the Culture Department's top mandarin because of 'public demand'. The author is understood to have been put forward by Jonathan Stephens, the department's Permanent Secretary, who sits on a committee that considers honours for leading figures in the arts and media.
As bitter protests continued in the Muslim world over the award, senior MPs expressed incredulity at the idea of a wave of public demands for Mr Rushdie to be ennobled. They were also astonished that the backlash against the award in the Muslim world had not been better anticipated.
Whitehall sources said the knighthood was approved by the arts and media committee chaired by multimillionaire philanthropist Lord Rothschild. Other members of the committee included Mr Stephens, a career civil servant who previously worked on public services at the Treasury, the BBC's director of radio and music Jenny Abramsky CBE, former theatre critic John Gross, novelist Ben Okri, and former editor of the Independent newspaper Andreas Whittam Smith.
A Whitehall source insisted: "Members of the public wrote to the honours committee. "He was nominated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the strength of representations from the public for his contribution to literature. "He has an internationally recognised body of work over many years, he's won the Booker Prize, he's a world-famous author."
After being approved by the arts and media committee, the nomination went up to the main honours committee, chaired by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell. He agreed the final list for submission to Tony Blair and then to the Queen.
Tory MP Stewart Jackson, chairman of the all-party group on Pakistan, said: "I have tried to read one or two of his books myself, and I would have got more stimulation from the Yellow Pages. "The suggestion that the British public have been queueing up to demand that Salman Rushdie is given a knighthood is frankly a joke. "A few cappuccino-sipping Lefties in Hampstead may have thought this was a good move, but the idea he is a popular cultural icon is laughable."
Tory MP Rob Wilson, vice-chairman of the all-party Parliamentary Pakistan group, said: "I am amazed that the people involved in this didn't anticipate the controversy it would cause."
A Foreign Office source said its officials had expected a backlash, but insisted they could not have intervened on those grounds. "We certainly anticipated that the award would not be uncontroversial in the Muslim world," the source said. "But it was an award for Salman Rushdie's literary merit. Other considerations could not come into play."
Westminster observers noted that Mr Rushdie is published by Vintage, a division of Random House. The chief executive of Random House is Gail Rebuck, who is married to Philip Gould, Tony Blair's long-time polling guru. But there is no suggestion that she or her husband played any role in nominating Mr Rushdie for an honour.
Last night, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Britain's Ambassador to Tehran, Geoffrey Adams, to protest about the "provocative" award. Earlier, Pakistan summoned Robert Brinkley, the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, and told him the knighthood was insensitive and contrary to efforts to foster understanding between religions. Effigies of the Queen and the 59-year-old author were burned for a second day.
In Iran, MPs accused the Queen of living in a "dream world" over the award.
First They Came for the EXTREMIST, FUNDAMENTALIST & MODERATE Muslims. And I DIDN’T Speak Out Because I Wasn't An Extremist, Fundamentalist or a Moderate Muslim. Then FINALLY They Came for Me the NON-PRACTICING Muslim And NO Muslims Were Left to Speak Out for ME.
No comments:
Post a Comment