NEW DELHI: Visa to exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has been extended again for one year, with effect from July 23, 2017, by the union ministry of home affairs.
According to the official, the 55-year-old author had left Bangladesh in 1994 after receiving threats from fundamentalists who objected to ‘obscene content’ in one of her books. Nasreen, who is a citizen of Sweden, was given a one-year extension on her visa in 2016 as well.
“Union home Minster Rajnath Singh on Tuesday approved her visa extension application, as she has been seeking to visit in India,” a senior official said. Extension of her visa was granted on her Swedish passport.
It is reported that Nasreen has been staying in the US and parts of Europe in the past 20 years but has in the past expressed her desire to live in India, especially in West Bengal, citing the cultural and linguistic similarities and proximity of the state with her home country. In fact, in her request for permanent residency, the writer went on say that if she is not able to stay on in India she will suffer from an "identity crisis" which will affect her writings and championing the cause of women's rights.
But, according to an official source, no decision has been taken on Taslima’s application by the ministry of home affairs for seeking permanent residence in India.
Taslima was staying in Kolkata for sometime but she had to leave the city in 2007 after violent street protests by a section of Muslims against her works.