Taslima Nasreen hopes for early return to Kolkata

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KOLKATA, Dec 26 (AFP): Bangladeshi writer Taslima
Nasreen, in hiding since Indian Islamists protested against her writing last month, said Wednesday she was hopeful of returning soon to her preferred home in exile.
Nasreen said she was cheered after veteran left leader Jyoti Basu said she could return to Kolkata, the capital of communist- ruled West Bengal state, if the national government provided her adequate security.
"It is great news. It appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel," she told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location in the Indian capital New Delhi. "I hope to return to the city of my love soon."
Nasreen has been under virtual house arrest since she was whisked away from Bengali-speaking Kolkata after protests against "anti-Islamic" passages in her works saw the army called out to restore order in the city.
"I am living in a peculiar condition. No one is allowed to come to me. I am confined to my room," said a disconsolate Nasreen, who has told her publisher she is unable to concentrate on her writing.