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Taslima hopes her visa will be extended
Published on Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 10:45, Updated on Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 13:35 in India section
Tags: Taslima Nasreen, Govt Of India , New Delhi
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New Delhi: The Government has not yet taken any decision on granting a visa extension to Taslima Nasreen. According to sources, the issue is still under consideration at the ministry level.
Taslima's visa expires on February 17 and she has appealed to the Government to grant her an extension. Her Indian visa was last extended on August 10 last year for six months.
There were reports earlier on Thursday that the Government has already decided to grant her an extension. But sources said no such decision has been taken till now.
On Wednesday, Taslima expressed hope that the Centre would extend her visa.
"I am waiting for the extension of my visa. I will come to know (about the government decision on the visa) a few days before February 17," Nasreen told PTI.
The Bangladeshi author is currently in Delhi where she is being kept in a safe house at an undisclosed location by security agencies.
"I am greatful that the Government of India has been extending my visa for the past three years,'' she said. "I consider India my own country."
Radical Muslim groups have been demanding that Taslima's visa should not be extended and that she be asked to leave India.
Muslim organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, have also urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take strict action against her for hurting the religious sentiments of the Muslims.
Under pressure from various Muslim bodies, the UPA Government has already refused a French proposal to confer the prestigious Simone de Beauvoir Award on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen during President Nicolas Sarkozy's forthcoming visit to India.
Sarkozy, who arrives on Thursday, has been invited by the Government to attend the Republic Day celebrations.
The Union Government cited 'security reasons' for not allowing a formal ceremony to be held in India for the purpose.
The author says she is tired of staying at the safe house in Delhi and wants to return to Kolkata. "I want an end to my state of internment here and go back to Kolkata which is my city," she said on Wednesday.
"I don't know how long I will be in this state of internment, but I want to tell everyone that I have not committed any crime," she said.
The writer said all her 30 books, including Dwikhandito whose controversial pages have since been deleted by her in the face of protests, would be on sale at the Kolkata Book Fair.
A fundamentalist organisation has already issued a warning against sale of her books at the fair.
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