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Desi Ishtyle

Will India deport Taslima? (update: Extension granted)

By: Santosh :+: Under: Desi Ishtyle, Opinion, Politics
On: ⋅ January 24, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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Update 2: The Indian Government granted Taslima a 6 month extension.

Update 1: Taslima made a formal appeal to the Indian Government to grant her Indian citizenship or, at least, a permanent resident status. The Taslima clock is ticking and Uberdesi will attempt to keep you updated on Taslima’s status.

Original Post (from Jan 24, 2007): Amulya Ganguli, in an op-ed piece argues in favor of making Taslima Nasrin an India Citizen. Taslima (warning: link contains some disturbing images) is originally from Bangladesh.

Taslima’s controversial book
(Photo: via wikipedia.com)

Taslima was forced to leave her home country fearing threat to her life from fundamentalists and has not been able to return since. Currently she resides in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India but holds a Swedish passport. So for all legal purposes, Taslima is a visitor in India and her clock runs out next month.

From India E-news:

Yet, the Bangladeshi writer, now living in exile in Kolkata, is worried about the uncertainty about the extension of her residential permit which expires Feb 17.

The Swedish passport holder cannot go back to her native country because of the ‘fatwa’ issued against her after the publication of her novel ‘Lajja’ (Shame), depicting the abduction of a Hindu woman in Bangladesh. Even a change of government in Dhaka may not help her because of, as she has said, the alliance between Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina and a fundamentalist organization.

What happens to her after Feb 17, 2007? Will the Indian Government succumb to pressure from religious extremists and deport Taslima to Sweden? By all accounts Taslima would like to stay on in Bengal.

From India E-News:

If India too shuts the door against her, it will be a ‘big disaster … because I closed my life in Europe and can’t think of leaving India. I consider Bengal as my home. I love Bengal … I don’t wish to live in the West’.

India granting asylum to leaders and activists from neighboring countries is not unheard of. although, it could be argued that in the case of the Dalai Lama, the circumstances were more of a political nature than religious. Will India deport Taslima or welcome her with open arms? Stay tuned.

Disclaimer:

• This article may link to external websites. The owner of this website or the author of this article cannot vouch for the content or authenticity of these external links.
• Taslima may be refered to as Taslima Nasrin or Taslima Nasreen by multiple external sources and this article may reflect that.

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