Rushdie scraps India lit-fest video address

A planned video address by British author Salman Rushdie to an Indian literary festival was scrapped yesterday because of security fears, organisers said.
Muslim groups in the city of Jaipur had called for police to ban the video link over the protracted row about alleged blasphemy in Rushdie's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses".
Sanjoy Roy, the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival, said police had warned that Muslim activists in the crowd were planning to disrupt the event.
Rushdie last week withdrew from making a personal appearance at the festival after assassination threat .