Bangla writer Taslima caught in violent row

Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen became the cause of rioting in Karnataka, leaving two people dead, over an article she says she never wrote.

The exiled writer on Tuesday said the publication of an article in a Karnataka newspaper purportedly written by her, which triggered violent protests in Shimoga and Hassan towns, was a "deliberate attempt to malign" her and "misuse" her writings to create disturbance in the society. Taslima said in a statement that she never penned any article for a newspaper in Karnataka.

"The incident that occurred in Karnataka on Monday shocked me. I learned that it was provoked by an article written by me that appeared in a Karnataka newspaper. But I have never written any article for any Karnataka newspaper in my life," she said. "The appearance of the article is atrocious. In any of my writings I have never mentioned that Prophet Muhammad was against burqa. Therefore this is a distorted story."

The author said, "I suspect that it is a deliberate attempt to malign me and to misuse my writings to create disturbance in the society. I wish peace will prevail."

The violence in Shimoga, the home town of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, left two persons dead, one of them in police firing on Sunday. Nasreen, staying in an undisclosed destination due to security reasons since her return to India last month, had her visa extended recently by six months till August this year. She said she would not like to say anything other than the statement issued by her.

The police had to open fire after protesters, who were taking out a procession, burnt 12 two-wheelers, two tractors, two autos and pelted stones at buses and buildings. The dead were identified as Mustafa and Ataulla.

According to Home Minister P V Acharya, there was trouble in Hassan too, with protesters burning two-wheelers, shops and raining stones on buses and buildings. But the situation there was more under control. About two dozen persons were arrested in connection with the incidents. Curfew has been clamped until Tuesday morning in both districts. The intelligence wing apparently erred in assessing the situation when the protesters began attacking shops and went on a burning spree.

In fact, the district administration had appealed to community leaders not to go ahead with their procession plans, in vain. In Hassan, minority committee members gathered in large numbers and forced the closure of shops belonging to members of their community. A section of protesters turned violent after submitting a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

Karnataka home minister P V Acharya said the government has taken all possible steps to check violence from spreading in the state. "We have ensured an elaborate bandobust in all 30 districts of the state and prohibitory orders have been clamped in several sensitive districts," he said.

In the article titled Pardah Hain Pardah Nasreen was quoted as allegedly saying that even Prophet Mohammed didn't believe in women wearing Burqa and that it stifled a woman's freedom. Muslim Leader Maulvi Riazul Rahman said, “I request people to remain calm.”

While the state government has deployed three battalions of the Reserved Armed Force in Shimoga, Hassan and Bangalore to help maintain law and order, many would wonder if Taslima's article warranted such a violent reaction from a section of the Muslim community.

The Government has extended by one year the visa for controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Feb 16 who has also moved for permanent residency in India. The extension of visa came a day before its expiry, relieving the 46-year-old writer of tension about her future stay in India, her “adopted” home since leaving Bangladesh in 1994 in the face of death threats from fundamentalist groups against her alleged blasphemous writings. “It’s good that I don’t have to roam in the West as a vagabond. After all, I have adopted India as my country and I have nowhere else to go. India is my place of work,” she said.

- Asian Tribune -