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Taslima Nasrin
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By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, August 28 (IslamOnline) - Bangladesh banned Tuesday, August 27,
the latest novel by the controversial exiled writer Taslima Nasrin. An
official announcement in Dhaka said that the novel contains
“anti-Islamic remarks that could anger the country’s Muslim
majority.”
Taslima
Nasrin’s new novel, Utal Haowa (Gusty Wind), was published in the
neighboring Indian state of West Bengal last June.
Bangladesh’s
home ministry said in a statement that the Bengali-language novel
“contains anti-Islam sentiments and statements that could destroy
the religious harmony in Bangladesh.” The novel’s “publication,
sale, distribution and collection” has been banned within
Bangladesh.
Police
have been asked to confiscate any copy of the book in Bangladesh.
Nasrin,
a physician-turned-writer, has been living in self-imposed exile in
Europe after she received threats to her life in 1994. She first came
to the limelight when an Indian newspaper quoted her as demanding
changes in the Qur’an, on the pretext of “giving women more
rights.”
Instead
of facing public opinion and court cases in her country, Taslima chose
to flee to India. Later she moved to live in Western Europe.
In
1993, Taslima’s book Lajja (Shame) angered many in her country for
containing fabricated accounts of attacks on minority Hindus by the
majority Muslims in Bangladesh after the destruction of the Babri
mosque in India in 1992. The Bangladeshi government banned that book.
Last
year, Bangladesh government banned another novel by Taslima - Amar
Meyebela (My Girlhood) for similar reasons.
Taslima
last visited Bangladesh in 1999 to visit her ailing mother who later
died of cancer. Her mother was deeply angered by her blasphemous
writings and “unethical life.”
Taslima
has lived mostly in Sweden and France after she fled her country.
Recently she traveled to India and is said to be living in Kolkata and
seeking political asylum from the Indian authorities.
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The cover of Taslima’s novel Lajja (Shame)
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Reportedly,
India is not keen on giving her asylum or long-term residence visa.
Her earlier requests for visas were turned down by India. Since the
majority language in West Bengal is Bengali, Taslima finds herself at
home there. The state is ruled by Marxists who facilitate her work and
help publish her books.
If
Taslima chooses to return to Bangladesh, she will face trial on
charges of blaspheming Islam and insulting its predominantly Muslim
population. If convicted, she could be jailed for up to two years.
In
a related development, Bangladeshi police arrested Saturday, August
24, Sambit Saha, a Hindu playwright, on charges of offending the
religious sentiments of Muslims after complaints that one of his plays
insulted Prophet Muhammad.
Allegedly
his drama “Katha Krishnakali” has offended Muslims. If found
guilty, he could be sentenced to two years in prison. Saha denied the
charge, saying his original script has no reference to the Prophet.
Bangladesh
is a Muslim majority country, though Hindus make up about 10 percent
of its 130 million people. The country is governed by secular laws,
but criticism of Islam, its holy book and the Prophet is illegal.
