The Hindu : National : Taslima not under house arrest: Pranab

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Sunday, Dec 23, 2007
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Taslima not under house arrest: Pranab

Staff Reporter

‘She can stay here as long as she wants to’

Kolkata: Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has not been kept under house arrest, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here on Saturday.

“Nobody is under any house arrest … Ms. Nasreen can stay here as long as she wants to,” Mr. Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of a foundation laying ceremony of the Centre for Millimetre Wave Semiconductor Devices and Systems, organised by Calcutta University.

“We never refuse a guest and we always allow them to stay,” he added, pointing out that he had made a statement in Parliament clarifying the Central government’s policy to that effect.

“But the guest should also not do anything that hurts the sentiments of a section of the population,” Mr. Mukherjee said.

Undisclosed location

He said Ms. Nasreen had been kept at an undisclosed location because of security concerns.

“There has been trouble regarding her, even in Kolkata, and so she has been kept at a secure location.”

Mr. Mukherjee said if Ms. Nasreen faced any difficulty at the place where she was kept, she should let the people attending on her know about it.

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