PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that British newspaper The Guardian had taken his comments on author Salman Rushdie’s attack “out of context”.

In an interview with the UK-based publication on Friday, Imran was quoted as terming the knife attack on the Indian-born novelist “sad” and “terrible”, which could not be justified in the name of Islam.

“Rushdie understood because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, and reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that. So the anger I understood, but you can’t justify what happened,” the PTI chairman gave his two cents on the attack that had sent Rushdie to a ventilator.

However, in a statement issued by PTI’s official Twitter account in the wee hours of Saturday, Imran said that his statement was taken out of context.

He explained that he had refused to attend the Indian seminar where Rushdie had been invited. “In the interview, I explained the Islamic method of punishing blasphemers.

“I gave the example of the Sialkot incident […] spoke about Rushdie in the same context,” Imran clarified, referring to the ghastly murder of a Sri Lankan man last year over blasphemy charges.

Later, in a meeting with YouTubers at Bani Gala, Imran reiterated that his “views on Rushie are clear”, adding that he would never approach a forum associated with the author.

Rushdie, whose sacrilegious writings made him the target of death threats, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on August 12.

The 75-year-old writer was being introduced to give a talk to an audience of hundreds on artistic freedom at western New York’s Chautauqua Institution when a man rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist, who has lived with a bounty on his head since the late 1980s.

Stunned attendees helped wrest the man from Rushdie, who had fallen to the floor. A New York State Police trooper providing security at the event arrested the attacker. Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass to the event.