New Delhi: Controversial Bangladeshi writer
Taslima Nasrin is now in the Capital to get her Indian visa
extended since the validity of the travel document expires in
August.
Taslima, who has been in and out of the country after
she was dramatically bundled out of West Bengal in November
2007 in the wake of protests by radical Muslim groups, came
from London in the wee hours of Sunday and was immediately
whisked away to a safe location.
The 47-year-old doctor-turned writer is also trying for
a permanent residency in the country. Her visa is valid till
August 16.
The future plans of the writer who shot to fame with her
controversial book `Lajja` were not immediately known.
The government has already made it clear that Taslima`s
visa cannot be extended beyond August 16 prompting her to take
the help of some of the country`s prominent writers.
At the time when her visa was extended before, Taslima
was told this would be the last extension under the category
(miscellaneous) she had applied the visa, official sources
said today.
Taslima, a Swedish passport-holder, had sought visa
under the miscellaneous category in 2005 and it has since been
extended initially for a year and later for six months. The
visa under this category cannot be extended beyond five years.
The writer has been told that she could stay in some
other country for a few days and later apply afresh for the
visa under the same category, pending her request for a
permanent residency in the country, the sources said.
The writer had earlier expressed her desire to visit
Kolkata but it has been turned down on the ground that radical
elements may try and harm her, the sources said.
Taslima had earlier left India on March 18, 2008, for
Sweden after she was kept at an undisclosed house here for
more than four months. She had not been allowed to see any
visitor during the period and described her confinement as "a
chamber of death".
Recipient of various awards, she was shifted from
her Kolkata residence after violent protests in the eastern
metropolis over her controversial book "Dwikhondito"
(divided into two).
Certain references in the book had stirred a storm with
some Muslim organisations demanding that she be asked to leave
the Left-ruled state.
She was bundled out of West Bengal in November 2007 in
the wake of violent protests by radical Muslim groups there
against her.
Taslima has lived in exile in many countries including
France, Sweden, the US and India since leaving her home
in Dhaka in a cloak of secrecy in 1994. During her stay in
India in the last five years, she has periodically travelled
abroad with the last trip being in August 2009.
PTI
