Taslima told she cannot go to Kolkata

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The central government on Thursday barred controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, living in an undisclosed location in the national capital for the last one month after she was hounded out of Kolkata, from coming out in public or freely meeting people, restrictions described as 'house arrest' by her.

The 46-year-old author, who has been living in exile after death treats to her in her country and was hounded out of Kolkata following fundamentalist threats to her, said she was told by a senior official of the External Affairs Ministry that she will not be allowed to go back to Kolkata.

"If I live in India, I would not be allowed outside. I will not be allowed to meet any friends. I will have to live this way in India and it must not be in Kolkata," she said quoting the government decision as conveyed by the official.

Nasreen said she had told the official that "I am not a criminal that I will not be allowed to return to Kolkata."

The writer, who spent a night in Jaipur and a week in Rajasthan House in the national capital after virtually thrown out of Kolkata and now living in a security safehouse, said she has been told she would not be able to lead a normal life in Delhi.

"I told the official that I should be allowed to lead a normal life at least in Delhi," said Nasreen who recently also offered to remove some controversial portions of her novel 'Dwikhandita' in a bid to pacify those opposed to her writings.

"I will have to live this way in India and it must not be in Kolkata. So I asked them when I will be able to go to Kolkata. They don't know when. And how long I will have to remain under house arrest. That they don't know," she said.
  
Asked what she would do now, Nasreen said she was not quite sure about it.
  
"In the name of security, I have been put into solitary confinement. I have not done anything wrong. Why should I not be able to meet my friends and relatives and I have to live in Kolkata. I would not be able to lead a normal life in Delhi. But I want a normal life," the writer said.
   
She said if necessary the government could not give protection but she could not live the way she was living now.
   
"I am not allowed meet anybody. I am not allowed to step outside. I am a Bengali writer and when I was living in Kolkata I was moving around and nothing happened. I want to live in Kolkata. I love Kolkata," she said.
   
Nasreen said she was forced to delete some paragraphs of her book and the fundamentalists "are not doing anything. Why should I be confined." She said she was not allowed to go to Kolkata even to bring her belongings.
   
She said the official told her "no" when she requested be allowed to lead a normal life in Delhi.
   
"Nobody will know where I am and I will not be allowed to tell anybody where I am. I will not be allowed to tell my address and can't invite my friends. I will not be allowed to go to any bookhouse or public place," the writer said.
   
Asked how long, she said, "they (official) don't know."

To a question whether she was considering leaving India, Nasreen said, "no, not at all. I want to live in India. I love India. People love me and they want me to live here."
   
She expressed the hope that goverment will change its mind and would allow her to live a normal life and continue her writing.
   
Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta refused to comment on reports of the government decision.