02-17-2007, 07:52 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Taslima appeals for Indian citizenship
Express News ServiceÂ
Kolkata, January 28: Doubting whether she would be able to visit her motherland irrespective of what the outcome of the elections there is, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has appealed to the Indian government to grant her citizenship or permanent resident status.
âTo live like a writer I cannot shift elsewhere. Here (in India) I can meet my own people, converse with them in my own language, the language in which I express my thoughts. The government can help me live like a writer,â Taslima said.
The writer, who was earlier given a six-month residential permit valid till February 17, said she hoped that the appeal made to the Foreignersâ Registration Office in December for a six-month extension from February would be granted.
âI can then concentrate on my writing. Let us see,â Taslima, who has also lived in Sweden, Germany and France, said. âI am also loved by people in Europe but Kolkata holds a special place for me,â she added.
Asked if she wished to return to her home in Bangladesh, which she was forced to leave in 1994 after fundamentalists issued a death threat or fatwa against her following the publication of her book Lajja, she said: âThat does not seem possible as there is not likely to be much change in the socio-political situation in Bangladesh. All major parties â both ruling and Oppositionâ- will not risk antagonising the fundamentalists who are calling the shots in Bangladesh politics at present. Both the BNP and the Awami League want to keep such groups in good humour,â she said.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory...sid=219633<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Let's see what the response of "upholders of freedom of expression" will be.
Express News ServiceÂ
Kolkata, January 28: Doubting whether she would be able to visit her motherland irrespective of what the outcome of the elections there is, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has appealed to the Indian government to grant her citizenship or permanent resident status.
âTo live like a writer I cannot shift elsewhere. Here (in India) I can meet my own people, converse with them in my own language, the language in which I express my thoughts. The government can help me live like a writer,â Taslima said.
The writer, who was earlier given a six-month residential permit valid till February 17, said she hoped that the appeal made to the Foreignersâ Registration Office in December for a six-month extension from February would be granted.
âI can then concentrate on my writing. Let us see,â Taslima, who has also lived in Sweden, Germany and France, said. âI am also loved by people in Europe but Kolkata holds a special place for me,â she added.
Asked if she wished to return to her home in Bangladesh, which she was forced to leave in 1994 after fundamentalists issued a death threat or fatwa against her following the publication of her book Lajja, she said: âThat does not seem possible as there is not likely to be much change in the socio-political situation in Bangladesh. All major parties â both ruling and Oppositionâ- will not risk antagonising the fundamentalists who are calling the shots in Bangladesh politics at present. Both the BNP and the Awami League want to keep such groups in good humour,â she said.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory...sid=219633<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Let's see what the response of "upholders of freedom of expression" will be.