The Hindu : Front Page : Taslima plans to leave India

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Tuesday, Mar 18, 2008
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Taslima plans to leave India

Marcus Dam

“I am half-dead … I cannot take it any more”

Kolkata: The exiled Bangladeshi author, Taslima Nasreen, is contemplating leaving India in order “to be able to live.” Life in confinement for “the past seven and a half months has left me half-dead,” she said on Monday.

“I plan to leave India though I would like to come back some day. As of now I cannot take it any more”, Ms. Nasreen told The Hindu over telephone from an undisclosed location in New Delhi, where she has been confined for the past few months.

She did not say where she would go or when. A source close to her confided that the author might have her sights on Europe, where she had spent much of her time before coming to India.

“I have always considered India my home and had come here from abroad after 12 years. They [the government] are now turning me out,” she said.

She left Kolkata on November 22, 2007, a day after demonstrations demanding that her visa be revoked turned violent.

Under stress

“I am suffering from stress-related hypertension and my eyes are being affected. I am turning blind.

“If I continue to stay in such conditions that cause me to suffer high blood pressure, my heart will be affected,” she said.

“If I live I would like to come back — the city [Kolkata] is my home.”

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