Exiled Bangladesh author hopes for early return to Kolkata
KOLKATA, India (AFP) — Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, in hiding since Indian Islamists protested against her writing last month, said Wednesday she was hopeful of returning soon to her preferred home in exile.
Nasreen said she was cheered after veteran left leader Jyoti Basu said she could return to Kolkata, the capital of communist-ruled West Bengal state, if the national government provided her adequate security.
"It is great news. It appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel," she told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location in the Indian capital New Delhi. "I hope to return to the city of my love soon."
Nasreen has been under virtual house arrest since she was whisked away from Bengali-speaking Kolkata after protests against "anti-Islamic" passages in her works saw the army called out to restore order in the city.
"I am living in a peculiar condition. No one is allowed to come to me. I am confined to my room," said a disconsolate Nasreen, who has told her publisher she is unable to concentrate on her writing.
"I have been given a laptop but it's not always working. I am suffering from depression."
Nasreen's publisher Sibani Mukherjee told AFP on the weekend that the writer did not feel able to complete her new novel on time.
"I have not been able to write a single word of my new book since I was forced out," Nasreen confirmed, breaking into tears.
"One cannot live in such a situation. I want to lead a normal life or I will die."
The Indian government has denied Nasreen's movements are restricted but has cautioned her not to do "anything that can hurt the sentiment of any community."
Nasreen fled her homeland Bangladesh after being accused of blasphemy for her 1994 novel "Lajja," or "Shame," which depicts violence against minority Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. She eventually settled in India.
