'No ill-feelings for anyone'

NEW DELHI, APRIL 14. Ending week-long speculation, the controversial India-born author, Mr. Salman Rushdie, tonight attended the Commonwealth Writers Prize distribution ceremony at a glittering function here.

Sporting a dark gray suit, the celebrated writer told reporters that he had been in India for the last one week along with his son.

A beaming Mr. Rushdie, whose arrival in India was kept a closely guarded secret due to security reasons, said he had no ill- feelings towards any community in India.

``The message to Indian Muslims is that I have never been their enemy.... I do not want to recall any other controversy. I want to enjoy my stay in India,'' he said.

Mr. Rushdie, who stirred up a major controversy when his book `Satanic Verses' was published, still carries a `fatwa' from the Iranian clergy.

Mr. Rushdie is among the eight recipients of the regional Commonwealth award this year.

Heavy security had been thrown around a south Delhi hotel, the venue of the function.

Mr. Rushdie sought the lifting of the ban on book. ``Of course, I would like the ban to be lifted. But I have not come here for that purpose,'' he told presspersons before the distribution of the awards here.

Mr. Rushdie said ``I wanted to take my son Zafar to places where he had not been,'' he said. He would like to visit places such as Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Solan, Shimla and Delhi.

To a question on the Indo-Pakistani relations, Mr. Rushdie said ``I am not going to support the military dictatorship in Pakistan''.

He favoured restoration of democracy in that country and resumption of the stalled dialogue with India. Asked about his period as a fugitive writer over a decade, Mr. Rushdie said ``history of writing is full of such people. I am sure I am not the first and the last person.''

- PTI

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