Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has often been in the news but has probably issued his sanest statement in recent times. Opposing the attack on Salman Rushdie in the British newspaper Guardian, Khan termed it “terrible” and “sad”, adding that the anger of Muslims at the book Satanic Verses was understood “but you can’t justify what happened”.
Meanwhile, Pervaiz Elahi, Khan’s foe-turned-friend and the newest chief minister of Punjab – where most of Pakistan’s blasphemy cases originate – approved of the attack. Watching a wrestling match in Lahore, Elahi said Rushdie got what he “deserved”.
