Controversial Indian-origin British writer, Salman Rushdie, has compared Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan to deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
“Have you noticed the physical resemblance between Imran and Qaddafi? Could cast as a slightly better-looking Qaddafi,” The Express Tribune quoted Khan, as saying while speaking at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi on Saturday night.
Rushdie also sarcastically remarked that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf chief pulled himself out of the Conclave over fears of being unable to handle his ‘bouncers’.
Khan had pulled out of the function earlier in the week after learning that Rushdie too would be present, saying the writer had caused ‘immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe’ by his controversial book The ‘Satanic Verses’.
Rushdie also recalled Khan’s young carefree days, suggesting perhaps that the political leader had been born again, “I would place a substantial bet that he has not read it (Satanic Verses). When Imran was a playboy in London, he was called ‘Im the dim’.”
He then went on to comment how freedoms of expression were under threat. “In our time, essential freedoms are in danger of society. In India also, not just egalitarian states. Public apathy is also damaging.”