Here we go again:

Britain’s decision to award Salman Rushdie a knighthood set off a storm of protest in the Islamic world today, with a Pakistani government minister giving warning that it could provide justification for suicide bomb attacks.

What isn’t an excuse for the Religion of Perpetual Outrage to burn flags, trample effigies, and call for beheadings?

More:

Today, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister suggested that the knighthood was so grave an offence that any Muslim anywhere in the world would be justified in taking violent action.

“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 the National Assembly.

Oh, but of course, he was misunderstood:

The minister, the son of Zia ul-Haq, the military dictator who died in a plane crash in 1988, later retracted his statement in parliament, then told the AFP news agency that he meant to say that knighting Rushdie would foster extremism.

“If someone blows himself up he will consider himself justified. How can we fight terrorism when those who commit blasphemy are rewarded by the West?” he said.

An apology has naturally been demanded–an apology from Britain, that is, not Pakistan.

The dhimmis, naturally, will comply. Supplication in 3, 2, 1…