Taslima seeks shelter in Tripura

Agartala, May 15: Renowned Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has said that she wants to stay in Tripura after returning to India in August.

Talking to a leading local daily here yesterday over telephone from Sweden, Ms Nasreen said that she felt like being 'buried alive' in that country. ''My writing has been severely affected since the day I left Kolkata. I want to be in Tripura if not West Bengal,'' she added. According to the daily, Taslima has expressed displeasure over the 'asylum' life in Sweden, US and Germany. She also informed that she was suffering from depression and seriously trying to return to India. The validity of her resident visa in Sweden would expired in August. ''I am feeling lonely here even though my friends over here are helping me a lot but I miss Kolkata,'' Ms Nasreen told the daily adding that she would urge the West Bengal government to allow her stay in Kolkata.

''I will request the West Bengal government to allow me to stay in my Park Street home. If this fails I will approach the Tripura government,'' she added.

''I still believe that the people in Bengal loved my writings and the fundamentalists have understood their mistake. I think they will not create any problem if I return to Kolkata,'' Ms Nasreen said.

''I always write on humanity and evil practices in the civilized society but I am not against any religion or sect. I believe in socialism. When Muslims were attacked in Gujarat I had wrote against the incident,'' she the newspaper.

Earlier, several intellectuals, including Khushwant Singh and Arundhati Roy, in separate letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had requested that Taslima should be allowed to exercise 'reasonable degree of freedom' and gets adequate security in India.

The Centre had asked the author to leave the country following protests by fundamentalists in West Bengal.

UNI