ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday abruptly cancelled a visit to India after it emerged British author Salman Rushdie would speak at the same conference.
Khan was scheduled to attend the India Today Conclave in New Delhi on Friday as a keynote speaker but pulled out, in a move likely to raise further fears among liberals about his brand of politics.
A statement from his party said "he could not even think of participating in any programme that included Salman Rushdie, who has caused immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe".
Organisers announced on Tuesday that Rushdie would speak at the conference, two months after death threats forced him to withdraw from India's premier literature festival.
Rushdie's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" is still banned in India and Pakistan for allegedly blaspheming Muslims. (AFP)