By DPA
Islamabad : Anger grew in Pakistan Tuesday over Britain's decision to award knighthood to author Salman Rushdie, as the upper house of the parliament and the provincial assembly of North-West Frontier Province condemned the move in two separate resolutions.
Pakistani officials and many among the general public were outraged by Saturday's announcement from London about the knighting of Rushdie, whose late 1980s novel "The Satanic Verses" sparked angry protests in Pakistan and other Muslim countries around the world.
"Knighthood award for Rushdie is an insult to the Muslims," said parliamentary leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, Waseem Sajjad, while moving the resolution in senate, the upper house of parliament.
"The decision will widen the gulf between Muslims and the believers of other religions," he said.
The two resolutions were approved unanimously and also demanded immediate withdrawal of the "sir" title for Rushdie.
The lower house National Assembly and the assemblies of Punjab and Sindh provinces denounced the knighthood Tuesday, while the foreign ministry vowed to formally convey the sentiments of Pakistanis to the British government.
"Certainly, Salman Rushdie has tried to insult and malign Muslims," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said, adding that "the insensitive decision" did not help efforts by the two sides to bring about harmony and greater understanding.
Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs Ijaz-ul-Haq warned that the decision to award Rushdie a knighthood could provoke Muslims to carry out suicide attacks.
Supporters of the religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal, held protest rallies in at least two cities of central Punjab on Tuesday. The alliance called for further demonstrations across the country on Friday.
Rushdie, an Indian-born British novelist, was forced to go in hiding for years after the spiritual leader of Iran's Islamic revolution Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence against the author for blasphemy in a fatwa or decree in 1989.
Iran's former President Mohammad Khatami, who said the country had no intention of carrying out the sentence, put the fatwa aside in 2001.
However, the Iranian government on Saturday also condemned the knighthood.