NEW DELHI, 20 March 2008 — Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has left India after being hounded into hiding by death threats from extremists, her publisher and friends told AFP yesterday.
“Taslima Nasreen flew out of New Delhi this afternoon to Europe for medical treatment,” her publisher Sibani Mukherjee told AFP, adding Nasreen had asked her not to reveal the author’s exact destination.
Taslima was forced to flee Bangladesh in 1994 after she was accused of blasphemy over her novel “Lajja” — or “Shame” — which depicts the life of a Hindu family persecuted by Muslims in Bangladesh.
The 45-year-old gynecologist-turned-author had been seeking permanent residence in India, where she moved after spending time in Europe and the United States. But New Delhi had stalled the request, fearful of a backlash from the country’s Muslims, and has given the author only six-month visas.
The writer had told AFP on Tuesday she hoped to leave for France or Denmark for medical treatment, saying the months in isolation had sent her blood pressure soaring and affected her heart and eyesight.
“I am living like a caged bird,” she said. “I’ve become very weak. My eyesight is on the wane. I fear I will become blind unless I move out of here and get my eyes treated.” Taslima said she was shadowed at all times by intelligence personnel, was not allowed to see friends, denied timely medical treatment and was living under “virtual house arrest.” She had sought to go back to Kolkata but the West Bengal state government said it did not want her back, fearful her return would stir more trouble.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Taslima said Indian authorities had “constantly pressured me mentally to leave the country.” “I was determined I would not leave this country. When they saw it was pointless trying to destroy my mind, they attempted to destroy my body. In this they succeeded by ruining my health, which leaves me with no other alternative but to leave this country,” she said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the Congress-led government of forcing Taslima to leave India because it is worried about losing Muslim voter support.
