A Muslim MP has protested against moves to use Sri Lanka as a location for a BBC film based on Salman Rushdie's award-winning book Midnight's Children.
The BBC wants to shift the location to Sri Lanka after the Indian Government refused it permission to shoot the television serial in that country on grounds that it might provoke religious violence.
Michael Wearing, the head of BBC's television drama unit, and his team have provisionally been granted permission by Sri Lanka to shoot the film in the country.
A BBC team arrived in Sri lanka recently on a location-hunting mission. Parliamentarian A. H. Azwer appealed to the Sri Lanka legislature to ban the filming of the Booker Prize-winning book.
'Rushdie is the notorious author of the infamous Satanic Verses which defamed the prophet Mohammed. He has gone into hiding fearing the wrath of the international Islamic community.
'India has rightly refused permission to allow the film to be shot on its soil. I appeal to the Government and all right-thinking lawmakers to ban the filming of the book in Sri Lanka,' he said.
