Taslima's visa extended by six months

KOLKATA: Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, under virtual house arrest after being shifted out of here in controversial circumstances, had her Indian visa extended for six months from February 17.

''I have come to know that my visa has been extended,'' Taslima said on Wednesday when contacted in Delhi where she is staying at an undisclosed destination on security grounds after violent protests by a little-known Muslim group against her alleged anti-Islam writings.

''I am grateful to the Government of India for extending my visa. I consider India my own country,'' Taslima said.

The writer's Indian visa was last extended on August 10 last year for six months.

Radical Muslim groups have been demanding that Taslima's visa not be extended and that she be asked to leave India.

She said she was tired of of staying at the safe house and wanted to return to Kolkata.

''I want an end to my state of internment here and go back to Kolkata which is my city,'' she said.

''I don't know how long I will be in this state of internment but I want to tell everyone that I have not committed any crime,'' the writer said.

The writer said all her 30 books, including 'Dwikhandito' whose controversial pages had been deleted by her in the face of protests by Muslim radicals, would be on sale at the Kolkata Book Fair.

A fundamentalist organisation has already issued a warning against sale of her books at the fair.