The Pakistani government minister who claimed that the award of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie could justify suicide bomb attacks announced yesterday that he plans to visit Britain on a mission to promote interfaith dialogue.

Ijaz ul-Haq, the Religious Affairs Minister, said that he hoped to clear up “misunderstandings” over his comments while on a trip to Britain planned for next month.

Britain protested to Pakistan over the remarks, made to the National Assembly on Monday, expressing “deep concern” over the apparent incitement to violence.

“If somebody has to attack by strapping bombs to his body to protect the honour of the Prophet then it is justified,” Mr ul-Haq told Parliament, in comments he later modified.

The Foreign Office confirmed that Mr ul-Haq had met a British delegation on interfaith issues in Islamabad this week but said that no invitation had been extended and none was planned. It added, however, that no steps would be taken to stop the visit.

Mr ul-Haq’s planned visit came amid protests and death threats against the author of The Satanic Verses, led by the ruling party of President Musharraf. The controversy has come at a convenient time for the Government, distracting public attention from the worsening political turmoil over the sacking of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

As 5,000 people rallied against the Government in Lahore, the speaker of the provincial parliament issued a new threat against Rushdie, saying that his faith required him to carry out the killing himself.

A hardline Islamic group announced that it was bestowing the honour of Saifullah, or “Sword of God”, to Osama bin Laden for “services to Muslims by waging jihad on infidels”.

“If Britain can give a knighthood to Rushdie, we too have the right to make awards to our leaders and heroes,” Allam Ta-hir Ashraif, head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, said. A Pakistani trade union, meanwhile, pledged a reward of 10 million rupees, (£80,000) for anyone who beheaded Rushdie, adding to a $150,000 (£75,000) bounty already promised by an Iranian extremist group.

Rushdie, 60, spent a decade under British police protection after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989, imposing a death sentence mon him for blasphemy.

The spiritual leader of the Iranian Revolution died without repealing the fatwa, meaning that it will remain in force for as long as Rushdie is alive, although Iran has since promised not to implement it. More recently, Rushdie has moved freely around his adopted home of New York with little obvious fear for his safety.

While Khomeini was still alive, Rushdie would generally appear at public events unannounced and was under instructions never to linger. During that period, The Times ran into him eating a at Capsouto Frères, a New York restaurant. Although he enjoyed a lengthy meal, he grew nervous when he was introduced to a Sri Lankan-born poet in the restaurant whose South Asian appearance apparently put him on alert. After posing for a picture, he hurried out of the door.

In the past several years, Rushdie has been a familiar figure at social events in the city, accompanied by Padma Lakshmi, his Indian-born wife.

Home to many celebrities who crave anonymity, New York has apartment buildings that offer good protection. But even someone as famous a John Lennon can be killed on his own doorstep.

When The Times interviewed Rushdie in New York in September, he no longer showed any fear of lingering. When he left the hotel, he appeared to hail a cab, despite the number of fundamentalist Pakistani and Bangladeshi taxi-drivers in New York who might recognise him.

Then his main complaint was about the perennial rumours that he and his wife were splitting up. “We are extremely happy . . . We are living in the same place in New York. Everything is fine.”

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