February
14, 2008 India Extends
Taslima's Visa
with Strings Attached
New Delhi/Kolkata
India Thursday extended controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima
Nasreen's visa, but advised her not to "hurt the sentiments of the
many communities".
The external affairs ministry made the announcement late in the
evening following a campaign by writers and intellectuals demanding
she should he allowed to stay in India.
Ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said India has extended the visa
for Nasreen, who has come to India after she was threatened by
religious extremists in Bangladesh offended by her writings.
Nasreen's visa - or residential permit - was due to expire Feb 17.
"It is incumbent on those who are welcomed as guests in India that
they remain sensitive to India's traditions and do not conduct
themselves in a manner that either affects our relations with other
countries or cause hurt to our secular ethos," the spokesman said.
He added that such guests should "not undertake actions that could
hurt the sentiments of the many communities that make up our
multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation".
Earlier in the day, Nasreen told IANS on telephone from the safe
house near New Delhi where she has been staying: "An external
affairs ministry official told me that my permit would be extended.
But I would not be allowed to move out of this place, meet friends,
accept guests or return to Kolkata.
"I am myself surprised that I am living like this. My only hope is
that one day I will be able to return to Kolkata where I have set up
a home over the years. But that is like hoping against hope going by
the developments.
"I am pretty confused about the objective of the government. What
purpose would it serve if I live like this?" she asked.
"I am not happy. I am living in stress. But I want to live in India
and return to Kolkata. So I am bearing it all."
The ministry spokesman said that some "restraints" were also
respected by Indians themselves, which should be respected by
"guests" in this country. "These are the same restraints which we in
India follow. We expect nothing less from our guests," Sarna said.
"Throughout its history, India has a tradition of offering
hospitality to those who seek it. It has also afforded protection to
those who have come as our guests. Ms. Taslima Nasreen is our guest
and, in keeping with our traditions, we have offered her the same
privileges," he said.
Nasreen is currently living in an undisclosed location in the Indian
capital, after she was forced to leave Kolkata following violent
protests by Muslim groups in November 2007.
West Bengal's ruling Left Front, which is going all out to garner
Muslim votes, shunted out Nasreen on Nov 21 last year after street
riots in Kolkata over her extended stay in India.
She was recently conferred the Prix Simone de Beauvoir by the French
government for her writing, but she was not allowed to receive the
award from French President Nicolas Sarkozy when he visited India
last month.
Nasreen, who was already living confined in a Kolkata apartment, was
taken first to Jaipur and then to New Delhi by the central
government and has since been kept in confinement at a safe house.
On Nov 30, 2007 Nasreen had agreed to expunge controversial portions
from her biography "Dwikhandita" (Split in Two).
Though patriarch of the state's ruling Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M) Jyoti Basu said on Dec 25 that Nasreen was
welcome to return to Kolkata, the Left Front government has chosen
to remain silent on her plight.
A section of intellectuals have mobilised support for the writer
whose fearless expressions on the state of women in Islam and the
plight of Hindus in Bangladesh antagonised clerics and governments,
forcing her to live in exile and under heavy security since the
1990s.
The international community and leading Indian intellectuals,
including writers Arundhati Roy and Mahasweta Devi and theatre
personalities Girish Karnad and Habib Tanvir, besides many others,
have been campaigning for Nasreen's freedom and Indian citizenship
for her.
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