KARACHI: Former prime minister Imran Khan said on Saturday that British newspaper The Guardian had taken his comments on the attack on Salman Rushdie “out of context”.

In an interview with the UK-based publication on Friday, Mr Khan 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, according to a Dawn.com report.

However, in a statement issued on PTI’s official Twitter account on Saturday, the ex-PM said his statement was taken out of context. In the tweet, Mr Khan explained that he had refused to attend a seminar in India where Salman Rushdie had been invited. “In the interview [to Guardian], I explained the Islamic method of punishing blasphemers.

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

However, Julian Borger, one of the two reporters who interviewed Mr Khan, said in a tweet on Saturday that they did not misquote Imran Khan.

Also on Saturday, during a meeting with YouTubers at Banigala, the PTI chairman reiterated that his “views on Rushdie are clear”, adding that he would never approach a forum associated with the author.

Salman 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 Aug 12.

Although Mr Khan’s statement to the UK-based paper was well-received in some circles, an effort was made on social media to paint him as someone who sympathised with blasphemers. A hashtag that tried to paint him in this light trended on Twitter throughout the day on Saturday, and several users blamed the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan for running a coordinated campaign against the PTI chief.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2022