Taslima Nasreen plans India return in August
Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen said today she planned to return to her adoptive home India by August, just months after she was hounded out of the country by Islamic radical death threats.
By Agencies |
PARIS: Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen said today she planned to return to her adoptive home India by August, just months after she was hounded out of the country by Islamic radical death threats.
Nasreen fled to Sweden in March after five months in an Indian government safe house, where she said the stress from her isolated, prison-like conditions sent her blood pressure soaring and affected her heart and eyesight.
In Paris for three days for the release of a book on her time in hiding, she told reporters she had recovered her health, and planned to fly back to India before August 17, when her current six-month resident permit expires.
"Whether I would be allowed to live a normal life or whether I would be forced to live under house arrest I don't know," said the soft-spoken 45-year-old, who radical Muslim leaders have vowed never to let return.
"So I have to go there and see," she said. "I hope that the Indian government will allow me to stay so that I can live there peacefully."
Nasreen was first forced to flee Bangladesh in 1994 after radical Muslims accused her of blasphemy over her novel "Lajja" -- or "Shame" -- which depicts the life of a Hindu family persecuted by Muslims in the country.
After years in exile in Europe and the United States, she had made Kolkata -- a region culturally close to her native Bangladesh -- her adoptive home.
She had been seeking permanent residence in India but New Delhi stalled the request, fearful of a backlash from the country's 140-million-plus Muslims, granting her only temporary visas.
Nasreen fled to Sweden in March after five months in an Indian government safe house, where she said the stress from her isolated, prison-like conditions sent her blood pressure soaring and affected her heart and eyesight.
In Paris for three days for the release of a book on her time in hiding, she told reporters she had recovered her health, and planned to fly back to India before August 17, when her current six-month resident permit expires.
"Whether I would be allowed to live a normal life or whether I would be forced to live under house arrest I don't know," said the soft-spoken 45-year-old, who radical Muslim leaders have vowed never to let return.
"So I have to go there and see," she said. "I hope that the Indian government will allow me to stay so that I can live there peacefully."
Nasreen was first forced to flee Bangladesh in 1994 after radical Muslims accused her of blasphemy over her novel "Lajja" -- or "Shame" -- which depicts the life of a Hindu family persecuted by Muslims in the country.
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After years in exile in Europe and the United States, she had made Kolkata -- a region culturally close to her native Bangladesh -- her adoptive home.
She had been seeking permanent residence in India but New Delhi stalled the request, fearful of a backlash from the country's 140-million-plus Muslims, granting her only temporary visas.
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