Taslima secretly shifted to undisclosed Delhi location
Saturday, 24 November 2007
NEW DELHI, Nov 23 (bdnews24.com): The Indian government has assured controversial writer Taslima Nasreen that her visa will be valid until February 17 next year and that she will be provided security wherever she is.
Taslima was shifted to an undisclosed location in New Delhi Friday morning after being moved secretly from Kolkata to Jaipur Thursday night.
The Union cabinet discussed security concerns surrounding her stay in the capital and according to the Indian home ministry she is now at an undisclosed location in New Delhi.
The move comes after the Indian army was called out on the streets of Kolkata Wednesday when activists of a Muslim forum enforced road blocks across the capital of West Bengal and clashed with the police demanding her immediate deportation from India.
Sources in the Rajasthan government have told bdnews24.com that they are left with "no alternative but to host Taslima due to reluctance of the West Bengal government to take her back."
Initially, Rajasthan had said it was not informed about Taslima being flown to Jaipur from Kolkata. Meanwhile, in the Indian parliament, the Communist Party of India made a strong plea for granting her Indian citizenship if she so desired.
The main opposition party, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), also demanded that Taslima be granted permanent visa and asylum in the country similar to that of Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Taslima has been shifted twice since Thursday. First she left West Bengal for Rajasthan where the state government was caught completely off guard by her arrival and asked her to leave. She then was moved to the capital Friday morning.
Speaking to the Press Trust of India over telephone, Taslima said: "I am mentally distressed. I am not well at all."
Sources in the Rajasthan government, however, told bdnews24.com that Taslima was on a "personal visit" and they had no prior information that she was coming.
But Rajasthan inspector general (Security) Meghchand Meena said Taslima was provided 'Y' grade security by the Rajasthan authorities on the requests of their West Bengal counterparts.
She was reportedly turned away by several hotels who claimed they were full up until she had found a room in Hotel Shikha near the Civil Secretariat. The author was staying in room number 101.
The police sealed its entrance and threw a security cordon around it. Traffic was also diverted in the area.
The hotel management, meanwhile, refused to divulge anything about the author's stay but reports say a man called Faizal Khan had accompanied her to the Pink City.
The scenes of violence on Kolkata's main streets broadcast across the country Wednesday rattled the communist government in West Bengal.
One of the main targets of the mob's fury was Taslima, whose visa had been extended by the state government for six more months. Taking no chances with further fuelling the fury and clearly buckling under the pressure from Muslim fundamentalist organisations, the West Bengal government Thursday had quietly moved Taslima out of the state. So secret was the move that Rajasthan police was not informed until her flight landed in Jaipur.
The West Bengal government obviously was not willing to take any risk after violent Wednesday and there were enough signs that the Thursday calm in Kolkata could be broken Friday.
In March, a Muslim group in India's Uttar Pradesh state offered a bounty for Nasreen's execution. It was followed by a physical attack on the author by Muslim activists in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in August.
Taslima was shifted to an undisclosed location in New Delhi Friday morning after being moved secretly from Kolkata to Jaipur Thursday night.
The Union cabinet discussed security concerns surrounding her stay in the capital and according to the Indian home ministry she is now at an undisclosed location in New Delhi.
The move comes after the Indian army was called out on the streets of Kolkata Wednesday when activists of a Muslim forum enforced road blocks across the capital of West Bengal and clashed with the police demanding her immediate deportation from India.
Sources in the Rajasthan government have told bdnews24.com that they are left with "no alternative but to host Taslima due to reluctance of the West Bengal government to take her back."
Initially, Rajasthan had said it was not informed about Taslima being flown to Jaipur from Kolkata. Meanwhile, in the Indian parliament, the Communist Party of India made a strong plea for granting her Indian citizenship if she so desired.
The main opposition party, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), also demanded that Taslima be granted permanent visa and asylum in the country similar to that of Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Taslima has been shifted twice since Thursday. First she left West Bengal for Rajasthan where the state government was caught completely off guard by her arrival and asked her to leave. She then was moved to the capital Friday morning.
Speaking to the Press Trust of India over telephone, Taslima said: "I am mentally distressed. I am not well at all."
Sources in the Rajasthan government, however, told bdnews24.com that Taslima was on a "personal visit" and they had no prior information that she was coming.
But Rajasthan inspector general (Security) Meghchand Meena said Taslima was provided 'Y' grade security by the Rajasthan authorities on the requests of their West Bengal counterparts.
She was reportedly turned away by several hotels who claimed they were full up until she had found a room in Hotel Shikha near the Civil Secretariat. The author was staying in room number 101.
The police sealed its entrance and threw a security cordon around it. Traffic was also diverted in the area.
The hotel management, meanwhile, refused to divulge anything about the author's stay but reports say a man called Faizal Khan had accompanied her to the Pink City.
The scenes of violence on Kolkata's main streets broadcast across the country Wednesday rattled the communist government in West Bengal.
One of the main targets of the mob's fury was Taslima, whose visa had been extended by the state government for six more months. Taking no chances with further fuelling the fury and clearly buckling under the pressure from Muslim fundamentalist organisations, the West Bengal government Thursday had quietly moved Taslima out of the state. So secret was the move that Rajasthan police was not informed until her flight landed in Jaipur.
The West Bengal government obviously was not willing to take any risk after violent Wednesday and there were enough signs that the Thursday calm in Kolkata could be broken Friday.
In March, a Muslim group in India's Uttar Pradesh state offered a bounty for Nasreen's execution. It was followed by a physical attack on the author by Muslim activists in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in August.