Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Wednesday cancelled his trip to India after it emerged British author Salman Rushdie would speak at the same conference.
The decision to back out from the conference came when organisers announced that Rushdie would be attending the conference.
An official statement has been released by PTI confirming the cancellation of Khan’s visit to New Delhi. According to the statement, Imran Khan said that he could not even think about sharing a stage with Rushdie, who had hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world.
Imran Khan. AFP
Khan was scheduled to attend the India Today Conclave in New Delhi on Friday as a keynote speaker but pulled out, in a move likely to raise further fears among liberals about his brand of politics.
Just two months after death threats forced Rushdie to withdraw from India’s premier literature festival in Jaipur, organisers on Tuesday confirmed that the British author would be a part of the conference.
Rushdie’s 1988 novel The Satanic Verses is still banned in India and Pakistan for allegedly blaspheming Muslims.
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