Government assures security to Taslima

Kolkata, Nov 24 (UNI) The West Bengal government today said it would provide all security to Ms Taslima Nasreen, if the controversial Bangladeshi writer wanted to come back to Kolkata.

''We shall arrange security for her if she wants to return on her own,'' Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray told reporters.

Ms.Nasreen had left the city on Thursday last following a large scale violence by a section of people, who demanded that her visa be cancelled and she deported from India.

Carrying an Islamic 'fatwa' on her head in Bangladesh allegedly for blasphemy and defaming Islam, Ms Nasreen has been living in Kolkata since 2004.

On Thursday last, she quietly moved to Jaipur before shifting to Delhi the next day as a guest of the Rajasthan government.

Mr Ray, however, said the West Bengal government did not have any talks with the Rajasthan government on Ms Nasreen.

''But talks between our Commissioner of Police and the Inspector General of Rajasthan Police might have taken place,'' he said.

The Home Secretary reiterated that the state government had no role behind Ms Nasreen's movement and she left the city on her own.

UNI