Naipaul calls Taliban 'vermin'
Times of India, Oct 14, 2001
LONDON: Nobel literature prize winner V S Naipaul has described Afghanistan's Taliban militia as 'vermin' and said it must be overthrown.
In an interview published in the Sunday Telegraph on Sunday, the writer of Indian descent expressed his contempt for the Muslim fundamentalists who have brought terror and misery to Afghanistan's 23 million-strong population.
Sir Vidia, who is one of the foremost British writers of the 20th century, has raked up a controversy in the past with his critical writing about Islam but, until now, has refused to talk publicly about the war in Afghanistan.
This weekend, however, while visiting the Cheltenham festival of literature, which he is attending with his Pakistani wife, he broke his silence when asked about his views on the Taliban government.
"They are absolute vermin," said Naipaul's wife Nadira Khannum Alvi and Naipaul agreed with her assessment. "I think they are as awful as they appear," he said.
When Naipaul was asked whether he believed that the overthrow of the Taliban government should be a war aim of America, Britain and their allies, Alvi intervened again and said: "absolutely."
Once again, Naipaul agreed. "I hope so," he said, adding "I think there should be a profounder aim: they should stick to this idea which they announced at the beginning of getting rid of terrorism generally."
Nadira Khannum Alvi - 30 years junior to 69-year-old Naipaul is a respected writer in Pakistan. She is also a well known newspaper columnist.
Naipaul, who won the $1,000,000 prize last Thursday, has criticised the political ambitions of Islam. At a recent reading in London, he condemned the "calamitous effect" of Islam, comparing it to colonialism.
Naipaul, who has written 26 works of fiction and non-fiction, has been a critic of Tony Blair's leadership in the past. In an interview last year, he accused the prime minister of cultural vandalism.
"It is terrible, this very plebeian culture, an aggressive plebeian culture that celebrates itself for being plebeian. For the first time in 50 years of living here, I am depressed by a government," he said.
This weekend, however, he had words of praise for Blair's leadership during the crisis prompted by the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. "I think he has handled the situation well. He is strong," Naipaul said.
He regretted there was war and loss of life and suggested that other, non-military, tactics could have been explored further.
"I wish it was an economic war. I wish questions of indemnity had been raised as a way of dealing with terrorism. Countries that harbour terrorists could, perhaps, have their assets frozen or confiscated until they cleanse their territories of terrorists. No one can do it better than the host country."
According to the report, in an address to the festival on Friday night, Naipaul said Britain had "lost" and "dishonoured" the "high culture". |
