Reprieve At Last?

AND so, after nine years in hiding, a divorce, another marriage, a son, and two books, Salman Rus-hdie proclaimed himself 'free' as he left the Foreign Office in London last week. "It means everything, it means freedom," he said of Iran's announcement that he was not on their wanted list. "It looks like it's over." But it wasn't. Rushdie had come, and he left, under security. The threat is reduced, but around the words of jubilation, the police in Britain are still looking out for potential killers.

Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi had said the Iranian government wouldn't go for Rushdie. But there's no indication that the murder of the Japanese translator of The Satanic Verses, Hitoshi Igarashi, the knife attack on Italian translator Ettore Caprioli, the attack on Turkish publisher Aziz Nesin that left 37 dead, and the shooting of Norwegian translator William Nygaard were the work of the Iranian government. As the extremist Islamic group Al-Mohajiroun in London declared: "There'll always be Muslims who want to carry out the verdict."

Voices denying freedom to Rushdie poured in from Muslim groups. "The Iranian government has not said they've revoked the fatwa because they cannot. As far as Rushdie is concerned, the situation remains the same," said Ghiyasuddin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament. The Islamic position, said Anjem Choudhury of Al-Mohajiroun, is that "anyone who insults the Prophet must face capital punishment". Manzoor Moghul from the Muslim Council of Britain warned that Rushdie can't be pardoned unless he "apologises and agrees to have copies of The Satanic Verses destroyed". Iqbal Sacranie from the UK Action Committee for Islamic Affairs was dismissive. "Iran," he said, "has nothing to do with it".

Clearly, Rushdie's new freedom is not as unqualified as the celebration of it in Britain. "All his friends can breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate," author Margaret Drabble declared. It's a "great victory for human freedom, a great victory for his courage, and a great day for the government's diplomacy," said Michael Foot, former Labour Party leader. The Salman Rushdie Defence Committee concurred with the sentiment.

 "There are one or two self-styled hardliners in England belonging to some tinpot organisations who are saying this and that, but they are completely unimportant," Rushdie said dismissively after emerging from the Foreign Office. But the author himself had said earlier that over two dozen Iranians suspected of trying to carry out the fatwa have been thrown out of England over the last nine years. The police aren't ready to believe they left without leaving traces, or terrorists, behind.

In a TV interview on Channel 4, British foreign secretary Robin Cook sought to appease such groups by saying the British government "understood and regretted the offence that The Satanic Verses caused to Muslims in Iran and elsewhere in the world". The apology came indirectly from Rushdie. Cook said he had done only what is acceptable to Rushdie, with whom he's been in contact for several months over the deal with Iran.

Iranian diplomats have argued that only Ayatollah Khomeini who issued the fatwa can withdraw it. On the other hand, as Rushdie said, "there doesn't seem to be any opposition". President Khatami had declared earlier in the week that the Rushdie affair should be considered "completely finished". Khomeini's successor Ayatollah Khamenei was silent over the deal between Iran and Britain. And so was the 15th of Khordad group which has offered a bounty of $2.5 million to kill Rushdie. British diplomats interpret the silence as an endorsement of the deal. But the question, according to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, is "how it is actually implemented".

The official British reaction seemed to indicate a shift in security to handling threats from isolated groups rather than professional agencies backed by government resources. The British government is reported to spend a million pounds a year to protect Rushdie. Officials were reluctant to say how far this security would be scaled down.

 Beneath the new-found warmth between Iran and Britain lie strategic issues of politics and business. Iran is a potential ally against a militant Iraq and a front against massive drug trafficking suspected to be launched by the Taliban. "Iran paid a heavy price and became a victim of drug trafficking through its eastern borders," said Iranian ambassador in Islamabad, Mohammed Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, last fortnight. And therefore the Iranian attempt to end its isolation and build bridges with the West.

Britain, on the other hand, which has seen manufacturing decline to its lowest in six years and exports at its lowest in 15 years, is keen to invest in Iran's gas reserves—the world's highest. The deal has now given more freedom to Iran and Britain to get on with serious business than it's given Rushdie, who continues to face an Islamic threat that goes beyond an Iranian threat.

The face of such threats was described by Pakistani bureaucrat-turned-film producer Akbar Ahmed in relation to casting Christopher Lee as Jinnah in his new film. He was quoted by Pakistani journalists as saying: "My biggest nightmare was that some idiot would walk into the lobby with a knife, see a British actor and think, 'this is my quick way to paradise'." With Rushdie as target, that temptation remains.