Author: Times News Network & Agencies
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 21, 2007
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Taslima_frets_in_house_arrest/articleshow/2639029.cms
The Centre has told controversial Bangladeshi
writer Taslima Nasreen that she will have to stay put where she is and would
not be allowed to return to Kolkata under any circumstances.
Nasreen has been living in an undisclosed
location in the National Capital Region under heavy security since she was
hounded out of Kolkata a month ago.
The 46-year-old author, who has been living
in exile after death threats to her in Bangladesh, said she was told by a
senior MEA official that she would also not be allowed to come out in public
or meet people -- restrictions she described as "house arrest".
"If I live in India, I will not be allowed outside.
I will not be allowed to meet any friend.
I will have to live this way in India and it must not be in Kolkata,"
she said, quoting the government decision as conveyed by the official. Nasreen
said she told the official, "I am not a criminal."
The writer, who spent a night in Jaipur and
a week in Rajasthan House after virtually being thrown out of Kolkata, said
she has been told she would not be able to lead a normal life in Delhi.
"I had told the official I should be
allowed to lead a normal life at least in Delhi," said Nasreen, who recently
offered to delete some controversial portions from her novel 'Dwikhandita'
to pacify those opposed to her writings.
"The officials told me if I stay in India,
I will have to stay under house arrest," Nasreen told TOI, adding, "I
don't have any wish to leave India." The author said she had hardly any
option now but to agree to MEA's terms.
