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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (92348)	12/26/2004 6:22:19 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 793843

Now, Sikhs, too? I may have to take back all the nice things I said about Sikhs: >>Novelist Rushdie condemns Britain for not protecting Sikh playwright Sun Dec 26,12:28 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - Salman Rushdie, the British novelist who faced a death sentence for writing "The Satanic Verses", condemned the government for failing to protect a Sikh playwright who has been forced into hiding to escape death threats, in comments. "It has been horrifying to see the response. It is pretty terrible to hear government ministers... failing to condemn the violence, when they should be supporting freedom of expression," Rushdie told The Sunday Telegraph. Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, 35, went into hiding last week after violent protests against her play, "Behzti" (Dishonour), which depicts murder and rape in a Sikh temple. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre cancelled the show last Saturday for security reasons after some 400 demonstrators tried to storm the building. Five police were injured in the riot and three men were arrested. Rushdie said Fiona Mactaggart, a Home Office junior minister, was "sending entirely the wrong message" by refusing publicly to support the theater and playwright. "In 1989, when 'The Satanic Verses' was attacked, all political parties were united in their condemnation of the violence and their support for the principle for freedom of expression," he said. "It seems that the Blair government's capacity to disappoint knows no bounds." The novelist said Sikh protestors had adopted violent tactics used by Hindu nationalists in India, where he was born. Britain is home to some 336,000 Sikhs, according to the 2001 national census, with an estimated 40,000 living in the Birmingham area. story.news.yahoo.com