TORONTO -- While Canada has cut ties with Iran and called it "the most significant threat to world peace," author Salman Rushdie is more concerned about Pakistan.
The acclaimed novelist, who spent a decade in hiding after Iranian leaders put a bounty on his head for his book "The Satanic Verses," says Pakistan is unstable and already has nuclear weaponry at hand.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Friday that Canada is shuttering its embassy in Iran and severing relations with the country.
Rushdie says he doesn't feel confident commenting extensively on Iran, admitting "truthfully, my interest in Iran ended at the point at which they stopped trying to kill me."
These days, his eye is more closely trained on relations between Pakistan and India, which also has an atomic arsenal.
The author made the comments while attending the Toronto International Film Festival, where he is promoting the film adaptation of his Booker Prize-winning novel "Midnight's Children."
Rushdie is also preparing to release a memoir, "Joseph Anton," which partly deals with his decade in hiding.
In 1989, Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or death sentence, against Rushdie in response to his novel "The Satanic Verses." Leaders ordered Muslims to kill the British writer over what they considered blasphemous writings.
Rushdie and his family were forced into hiding for a decade. The edict was lifted in 1998.
International calls for a tougher stance on Iran come amid allegations it is developing atomic weapons. Iran says its nuclear work is for peaceful energy purposes.
Although "Midnight's Children" was published some 30 years ago, Rushdie says many of the issues it delves into still plague the world today: religious sectarianism, political corruption, violence and war.
"It's always bad. The world is always terrible," Rushdie said Saturday during a round of interviews at a downtown hotel.
"Fortunately for writers, because then you've got something to write about."
The Toronto International Film Festival runs until Sept. 16. "Midnight's Children" opens Nov. 2.
