British novelist Salman Rushdie pulled out of India's largest literary festival Friday, saying he feared assassination after his participation was opposed by senior Muslim clerics.
"I have now been informed by intelligence sources... that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to eliminate me," the Indian-born writer said in a statement read by the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Sanjoy Roy.
Rushdie had been scheduled to speak on the festival's opening day on Friday, but the event kicked off without him. [AFP] Read more
