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Taslima Nasreen to seek asylum in India

Arup Chanda in Calcutta

Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who is on a visit to Calcutta, will seek political asylum in India.

Taslima has said she is yet to make up her mind about when to apply but would certainly prefer to stay in this part of India since it resembles her homeland.

Exiled in France, Taslima is visiting India after six years. Despite repeated requests she had earlier been denied visa by the Indian government.

Taslima returned to Calcutta from Shantiniketan on Sunday evening and will remain in the city till the end of this week. She will participate in many functions where she would read out her own writings particularly from her controversial book, Amar Meyeybela (My childhood) which is banned in Bangladesh.

"I would certainly like to return to Bangladesh but if I am forced to adopt another country, my first choice would be India since it is a secular country. Moreover, West Bengal reminds me of my own country as both the Bengals are historically and culturally one and identical," she said.

The writer, who is a self-proclaimed feminist, recollected that the Bangladesh government had tried to coerce her into giving up writing if she wanted to stay in the country.

"I left my country but not writing. I have also informed them of my decision," she said.

Taslima does not believe that her situation is the same as that of the writer of The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie. " Though the fundamentalists of Iran declared a death penalty on Rushdie, he never stayed in Iran. But I was in Bangladesh when the ban was imposed on my book," she said.

According to Union Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Panja his department had not received any application from Taslima about her request to stay in India. "As such, I cannot comment at this stage", he said.

He said that the writer had not spoken to her about her intentions but noted: "Relations between Bangladesh and India are very good and we will not resort to anything which might affect this friendship."

According to sources at the Bangladesh deputy high commission here, the Bangladesh government was not concerned about Taslima and if she wanted to visit Bangladesh she was at liberty to do so.

Currently, there are two court cases against Taslima in Bangladesh. In 1995 the officer-in-charge of Motijheel police station in Dhaka, Nurul Alam, filed a case against Taslima after obtaining government approval.

Alam charged Taslima with hurting the religious sentiments of the people through her writings. Taslima was granted bail in this case.

Another case was lodged at the Keraniganj court in Dhaka by an officer of Keraniganj police station. In this case too Taslima was charged with hurting religious sentiments of the people. The court had issued an arrest warrant against Taslima but she obtained bail from the high court.

UNI

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