“I locked the front door and shut the shutters,” he replied, the chuckles swiftly fading. “The power of Khomeini was very great. I was under no illusion — I mean there was a very serious physical danger... Apart from the fact that a fatwa is an attempt to murder somebody, it is a completely banal event. What does it say? All it says is ‘Shut up!’ And if you don’t shut up we will kill you, or actually we will kill you anyway.

><table width='100%' border=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 18px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #0253B7;'><B>Sunil Sethi:</B> Salman Rushdie, alias Joseph Anton</td></tr><tr><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 11px; '>Mr Rushdie

Sunil Sethi: Salman Rushdie, alias Joseph Anton

Mr Rushdies Joseph Anton is to be read, in part, as a treatise on the politics of intolerance, at a time when politicians construe umbrage, offence and insult over a cartoon

More From This Section

'Asian govts should ensure corporate laws match global norms'

Ritwik Priya: Re-examining the fiscal deficit

Shreekant Sambrani: The monsoon- lessons, and a question

Mitali Saran: Free speech vs free-for-all

Explore News