Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie has called on India to lift a ban on his book Satanic Verses, as hundreds of Muslims in Kashmir launched protests and rallies against the author. Rushdie joked with reporters that part of his royalties from Satanic Verses could have gone to the former Iranian leader because of the increase in the novel's popularity after the fatwa. In 1998, Iran said it would not carry out the fatwa, which, however could not be rescinded.
Some Islamic groups continue to threaten the novelist's life.
Rushdie, who yesterday visited his ancestral home near the northern Indian resort of Shimla, said he planned to deepen his association with India. I hope people will get used to my being here. But the people have not changed in India. The controversial writer last visited India in August 1987, during the 40th anniversary of India's independence from British rule in 1947. Rushdie also said he planned to convert his ancestral home in Solan into a writers' retreat.