Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page xiii
xv I N T RODUC T ION When Salman Rushdie published his so-called novel in 1988, it unleashed an unprecedented controversy throughout the world. Marches were organised and demonstrations were raised protesting against the contents of the book. In view of the depth of feeling that was aroused, some of these meetings inevitably broke into violence and several people were injured or killed. As Muslim countries around the globe condemned the publica- tion and the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued his now infamous fatwa, Western nations went to the other extreme. They defended the publication to the hilt. This was typified by the reaction in Britain where the book was fi rst published. Here, the British establishment claimed it could do nothing because it had to uphold the right of freedom of speech. By doing so, it had conveniently overlooked its own debacle in the ‘Spy Catcher’ affair and its subsequent and suc- cessful banning of satellite transmission of pornographic television channels into the UK. As far as the British establishment was con- cerned, it seems, transmission of abusive language on the airwaves could contravene its sacred tenet of freedom of speech but the pub- lication of abusive language inflicted against the pure characters of revered individuals causing hurt and anguish to hundreds of thousands of its citizens could not. Then, as if adding insult to injury, the book was heralded as a work of literature and was even nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize. The author was treated like a hero and extracts from his infamous book were read out in public. When Muslims protested, they were branded as intolerant and medieval in their thinking. The burning of a copy of Salman Rushdie’s book in public in the city of Bradford did not help mat- ters, for it was promptly picked up by the media and shown repeat-