BAREILLY: With Salman Rushdie's proposed visit to India kicking up a political row,
Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said anybody having objections to the provision of
PIO not requiring visa to visit the country can take up their complaints with the competent authority or courts. "This should not be made an issue. These are matters of normal processes of legal rights. There is not any special decision that is being taken by the
Congress government anywhere either in the state or at the Centre," he said in response to repeated queries on the issue. Noting that under the existing provisions, a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) can visit the country without any visa and that Rushdie could be possibly be trying to come here likewise, he added "but the implications of legal rights that overseas Indians have...can be tested before competent authority or before the courts, if the need be." Khurshid, who is also
Minority Affairs Minister and a key face of Congress in the poll-bound
Uttar Pradesh, said that he has noted the "expression of concern" that has come from many quarters and will "definitely convey" it to the government. Noted Islamic seminary Deoband has demanded for cancellation of Rushdie's visa even as the controversial author said he does not need a visa to come here. Official sources have maintained 65-year-old Rushdie holds a PIO card which entitles him to visit the country without a visa. Rushdie is not required to apply to any government authority to seek permission for his proposed visit to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival this month end, they have said. Meanwhile, in Bareilly, Muslim Ulema of Bareilvi sect has warned Congress of suffering political losses if it allowed the visit of Rushdie. A delegation led by General Secretary, Jamat Raza-e-Mustafa, Maulana Sahabuddin Rizvi handed over a memorandum to Law Minister Salman Khursheid yesterday during his visit and demanded that controversial writer should not be given a visa. Rizvi said that if Rushdie's visit was not prevented Jamat would launch a country wide agitation to protest the move.
