Celebrated author Salman Rushdie today
called for confronting fundamentalism and religious extremism. He
is currently in India with his wife Padma Lakshmi for writing a
screenplay for an upcoming Hindi film based on his novel
"Firebird's Nest".
"I have been fairly critical of the so-called war on terror which
has to do with as you say the way in which the subject is being
confronted. There is no doubt that radicalism, extremism does
need to be confronted whether it's Muslim, Hindu or Christian
fundamentalism.
These things need to be confronted and it's a
dangerous time in the world because they are rampant. I do not
think what happened in Iraq has really made the world a safer
place," he said in Kolkata.
The Anglo-Indian novelist, who uses in his works tales from
various genres -- fantasy, mythology and religion, was condemned
to death by former Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini in 1989, after publishing "Satanic Verses". Khomeini had
offered a "fatwa" of 2.8 million dollars for killing Rushdie.
The novel, which won several international awards and acclaim,
was banned in India and South Africa apart from the Middle East
countries, for it's lewd content on Islam. The novel was a story
of two Indian actors who fell on the Earth after an Air India
aircraft exploded mid air. The book criticised terrorism.
Rushdie has been severely denunciated by Islamic fundamentalists
for his works against their ideology. Rushdie, who started his
career as a television presenter in Pakistan, wrote his first
novel "Grimus" in 1975, a science fiction, drawn on 12th century
Sufi poem "The Conference of Birds".
His other literary works include "Step Across the Line", "The
Ground Beneath Her Feet", "The Moors Last Sight" and "Fury".
(ANI)