Nasrin sought asylum in the US.
By Dileep Thekkethil
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Taslima Nasrin, the controversial Bangladeshi author, who is currently living a life of exile in the US, has received one year’s extension for her Indian visa.
According to officials in the Indian Home Ministry, Nasrin, who has lived as an exile since 1994 following incessant threat to her life from Islamic terror organizations over the controversial book ‘Lajja’ (Shame), had approached the department several times, requesting an extension for her visa.
It has been now confirmed that the 52-year-old Bangladeshi author has been provided with a visa extension of one year – starting from July 23.
Talking to the PIT, Nasrin said that she was happy to get the extension though she had expected it to get more than a year’s extension.
“Anyway, this is always a welcome news. I am yet to be officially conveyed (the government decision) and you are the one who broke the news to me,” she said.
Nasrin lived in exile in Western Europe and North America for 10 years after which she moved to India in 2004. She was forced to flee the country in 2007 following which she took Swedish citizenship and subsequently moved to Germany.
She later returned to India, as she felt India was her home but was forced to stay in New Delhi as the West Bengal government refused to permit her entry.
In early 2015, she received a death threat from Al Qaeda-linked extremist group, and so the government asked her to move to the United States, where she now lives. The Center for Inquiry (CFI) that helped evacuate her to US, in an official statement said, “is only temporary if she cannot remain in the U.S., however, which is why CFI has established an emergency fund to help with food, housing, and the means for her to be safely settled,”
On different occasions, Nasrin expressed her desire to stay permanently in India but the government refused her requests, especially after the West Bengal government raised concerns.