Pakistani cricket hero and politician Imran Khan has canceled a planned trip to India after it was announced that British author Salman Rushdie would speak at the same conference.
The leader of Pakistan's Tehrrek-e-Insaaf party was scheduled to attend the high-profile India Today Conclave in New Delhi as a keynote speaker.
A statement from his party, however, said Khan "could not even think" about sharing a stage with Rushdie.
Death threats forced Rushdie to withdraw from the Jaipur Literary Festival in India in January.
The Mumbai-born author's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" is banned in India and Pakistan for allegedly blaspheming Muslims.
In 1989, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa death sentence against Rushdie over the book.
The Iranian government later lifted the fatwa.
The leader of Pakistan's Tehrrek-e-Insaaf party was scheduled to attend the high-profile India Today Conclave in New Delhi as a keynote speaker.
A statement from his party, however, said Khan "could not even think" about sharing a stage with Rushdie.
Death threats forced Rushdie to withdraw from the Jaipur Literary Festival in India in January.
The Mumbai-born author's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" is banned in India and Pakistan for allegedly blaspheming Muslims.
In 1989, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa death sentence against Rushdie over the book.
The Iranian government later lifted the fatwa.
