Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 25 (ANI): Amid reports of author Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' being available for sale over three decades after it was "banned" in the country, Islamic scholars have voiced their opposition and said that the "ban should continue".
Maulana Yasood Abbas, general secretary of the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB), urged the government to "continue the ban".
He said there should have been dialogue with people demanding a ban before allowing the sale of the book.
"There should have been dialogue because there is a Muslim perspective," he said.
Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, president of the All India Muslim Jamaat, also echoed similar views.
He expressed concern that the availability of the book could "harm the social and religious fabric of the country".
"I request the government that in the manner in which the then government had imposed a ban on the eighties, this ban should continue," he said.
A Delhi court had last month dismissed a plea challenging the 1988 ban on importing Satanic Verses and said that the authorities could not produce the relevant notification.
Reports said the Rajiv Gandhi government had banned the book for "law and order reasons". (ANI)
All India Shia Personal Law Board general secretary Maulana Yasoob Abbas