London: The power elite of Pakistan is
"profoundly duplicitous," says controversial Indian-origin
author Salman Rushdie, who finds it "ludicrous" that al Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden hid in the heart of that country without
anybody`s knowledge.
Calling the system in Pakistan "deeply unstable,
corrupt and militarist", Rushdie said the Indian perspective
would believe that in having Pakistan as an ally, the West "is
in bed with the wrong people".
"For those of us who`ve been watching for a while,
this is not rocket science. If you look at this from the
Indian side of the frontier, you know that Pakistan has been
harbouring terrorists forever," Rushdie told The Times.
The Midnight`s Children author also said he had never
believed that bin laden would be hiding in a mountainous cave
and he was hardly surprised that he was found in Abbottabad.
"In this case it was obvious that someone like bin
Laden could not have hidden out for a decade in Pakistan,
which is not a wilderness.
"I never believed the cave. I thought, `This is a rich
kid who`s grown up in a world of enormous wealth; he ain`t
living in no cave`. And Abbottabad? You`re living next door to
West Point? In a town where all your neighbours are retired
generals... Your house is eight times the size of the next-
biggest house? And nobody wants to know who lives there?
Ludicrous," he said.
Terming the power elite of Pakistan as "profoundly
duplicitous," he contrasted the set up in that country with
India which has a "stable democracy". "Over there (in Pakistan), deeply unstable, corrupt, militarist, cronyist ratf***. That`s the technical term. You
choose your ally," the author was quoted as saying.
In 2009, Rushdie had remarked that the West should be
tougher on Pakistan - surely a prescient remark after the
death of bin Laden, the paper said.
"From the Indian perspective, this doesn`t look like
the right ally for the Americans. Maybe you`re in bed with the
wrong people," Rushdie said.
He was also critical of what he called "the cultural
relativist mistake" of the UK, regarding tolerance of
religious extremism.
"The mistake is to think that this is their culture
and you`ve got to let them have it; at the lunatic fringes you
get people like George Galloway, and a tolerance for what
ought to be intolerable.
"But the problem is the mainstream acceptance of his
relativist argument; and I think that`s dangerous," he said.
Referring to the revolutions in the Arab world,
Rushdie pointed out that the spirit behind these uprisings was
not religious -- a lesson that should be learnt from the Arab
Spring.
"It`s an old-fashioned revolution: It`s about jobs and
freedom. What it shows is that people everywhere want the
same thing. The idea that Islamic culture is different, that
Islamic people want different things -- garbage.
"Everybody wants the same thing: to be free, to choose
their own futures, to feel that there is a future. This is
universal," he said.
PTI
