A Pakistani minister on Monday night retreated from comments reported earlier in the day in which he appeared to have said that Britain’s award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie provided justification for suicide attacks.

“What I said has been misreported. I said, the root cause (of militancy) is that Muslims will see this knighthood going to someone committing blasphemy. There is a danger of people considering suicide attacks” in retaliation, said Ijaz ul Haq, Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs, clarifying his position.