Indian authors urge govt to ease writer's 'prison conditions'
NEW DELHI (AFP) — Indian editors and intellectuals appealed to the Indian government to relax Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's "prison conditions," saying they were taking a toll on her health.
Nasreen has been under federal protection at an undisclosed location in the Indian capital since last month when she was whisked from Bengali-speaking Kolkata by the government after radical Muslims protested against "anti-Islamic" passages in her works.
The conditions "under which she is now living under the care of the central government are close to prison conditions," the letter signed by renowned Indian authors including Arundhati Roy, Kushwant Singh and Vinod Mehta, editor of the national news magazine "Outlook."
The letter, addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, quoted Nasreen as telling friends, "It is like being buried alive."
"She has neither been allowed to receive her friends nor to visit them... the gaol-like conditions are naturally beginning to strain Taslima's mental health," the letter said.
"While we can understand the need for adequate security, we think this is carrying things too far. Please ensure while she still gets adequate security, she is allowed to exercise a reasonable degree of freedom," the letter said.
There was no immediate comment from the government on the letter but India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday denied Nasreen was effectively under house arrest.
"She is our guest. The government has made the necessary arrangements to secure her safe stay in India," he said.
Nasreen was forced to leave Kolkata following violent protests by Muslims over her writings that led to the army's deployment in Kolkata.
Mukherjee said Nasreen "can stay in India as long as she likes."
"But she has to abide by certain laws. She should not do anything that can hurt the sentiment of any community," he said.
