Monday, December 29, 2025
ADVT 
International

Have Not Left India, Will Be Back When Feel Safe: Taslima Nasreen

Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Jun, 2015 01:29 PM
    Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who has relocated to the US, on Wednesday said she hasn't left India permanently and would return to the country when she felt safe.
     
    In a post on her Twitter handle, Nasreen said she was "worried" after receiving threats from Muslim fundamentalists who had killed atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.
     
    "Was threatened by Islamists who killed atheist bloggers in B'desh. Worried," she said in her Twitter post.
     
    Nasreen, who has been living in Delhi for years, said she had sought to meet the government of India representatives, but did not get any appointment.
     
    "Wanted to meet GOI. No appointment. Left. Will be back when feel safe," she tweeted.
     
    In another tweet, the author said she often went to the US to give lectures and meet her family members.
     
    "I havn't left India permanently. Indian govt always provides security. Pet cat is waiting," she said.
     
    A New York-based think tank on Monday said it has relocated Nasreen to "safety" in the US amid death threats from Islamist radicals.
     
    The Center for Inquiry assisted in relocating the award-winning writer and human rights activist to the US last week after she was "specifically named as an imminent target by the same extremists responsible for the murders of Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman and Ananta Bijoy Das".
     
    "Another freethinker writer-blogger was hacked to death in Bangladesh this morning. Bangladesh is worse than Pakistan," she tweeted following the brutal murder of blogger Ananta Bijoy Das on May 12.
     
    But someone with the Twitter identity oneofthemuslims @jihadforkhilafa wrote back: "@taslimanasreen u r also among the 84 who r on the hitlist. count ur days."
     
    The tweet was referring to a list submitted to Bangladesh's interior ministry in 2013 by a radical group asking for the writer-bloggers to be punished for their blasphemous comments.
     
    Exiled from Bangladesh in 1994 for "hurting religious sentiments" with her novel "Lajja", Nasreen took refuge in Kolkata in 2004. 
     
    But after violent protests in the city in November 2007, the erstwhile Left Front government whisked her away to New Delhi. Since then she was mostly residing in the national capital under tight security, with the government extending her visa from time to time.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    When Jayewardene wanted to hang Prabhakaran

    When Jayewardene wanted to hang Prabhakaran
    Sri Lankan president J.R. Jayewardene asked Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986 to hand over Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran...

    When Jayewardene wanted to hang Prabhakaran

    65 killed in China factory blast

    65 killed in China factory blast
    At least 65 people were killed and 150 injured Saturday in an explosion at a factory in China's Jiangsu province, officials said...

    65 killed in China factory blast

    Delegates to be screened for Ebola at US-Africa summit

    Delegates to be screened for Ebola at US-Africa summit
    US President Barack Obama has ordered compulsory screening of all the African delegates arriving in Washington for a summit for Ebola virus symptoms...

    Delegates to be screened for Ebola at US-Africa summit

    Will Gaza truce lead to Hamas-Israel-US meet in Cairo?

    Will Gaza truce lead to Hamas-Israel-US meet in Cairo?
    Does the 72-hour ceasefire in the three week long conflict in Gaza brokered by the UN and US advance peace? Just as I write this comes news that the...

    Will Gaza truce lead to Hamas-Israel-US meet in Cairo?

    Over 1,700 killed in Iraq violence in July: UN

    Over 1,700 killed in Iraq violence in July: UN
    At least 1,737 Iraqis were killed, and 1,978 others injured in terrorist attacks and violence in July, according to a statement issued Friday by the UN...

    Over 1,700 killed in Iraq violence in July: UN

    Kerry calls for 'constructive chapter' in climate change

    Kerry calls for 'constructive chapter' in climate change
    US Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday said his country was looking forward to a "new and constructive" chapter with India in the area of climate change....

    Kerry calls for 'constructive chapter' in climate change