Salman Rushdie supports mosque near Ground Zero

Controversial Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie has spoken out in support of a mosque near Ground Zero, an issue that has sparked a religious row in US amid opinion polls suggesting that majority of Americans oppose it.

"It's just a stupid argument," Rushdie said at the Brooklyn Book Festival in New York.

"Of course they should be able to build a mosque there," he was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

The writer also noted that the controversy regarding the proximity of the mosque near the World Trade Centre made no sense, since the mosque was inside the World Trade Centre itself.

Rushdie also spoke against the burning of Qurans, which had been planned by Florida Pastor Terry Jones.

Full report here Times of India