‘Terrorism will keep so long as Islam is there’: Exiled Bangladesh author Taslima Nasrin on Pahalgam assault

In response to information company PTI, whereas talking on the Delhi Literature Competition, the Lajja creator remarked, “Islam has not developed in 1,400 years.” She added, “Till it does, it is going to proceed to breed terrorists. Within the 2016 Dhaka assault, Muslims have been slaughtered as a result of they may not recite the Kalma. That is what occurs when religion is allowed to overrule motive and humanity.”

The Pahalgam assault on April 22 claimed the lives of 26 folks, largely vacationers. On July 1, 2016, terrorists had stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, leaving 29 lifeless.

Taslima Nasrin additionally criticised the growth of spiritual establishments, stating, “In Europe, church buildings have become museums, however Muslims are busy constructing mosques all over the place. There are hundreds they usually nonetheless need extra. What they produce are jihadists. There must be no madrasas. Kids should learn all books, not only one.”

Pressured into exile in 1994 after being accused of blasphemy, Nasrin has since lived in Sweden, the US, and India. She shared her emotional connection to India, saying, “I’m a everlasting resident of the US and lived there for 10 years, however I at all times felt like an outsider. It was solely once I got here to Kolkata that I felt at dwelling. Even after being thrown out of West Bengal, I discovered one other dwelling in Delhi. This nation has given me a way of belonging that my very own nation couldn’t.”

“I really like India. It appears like dwelling,” she added.

Turning her consideration to ladies’s rights, Nasrin criticised the scenario in her homeland and expressed assist for authorized reform. “Each civilised nation should have a UCC. India too. I assist it. Islamic patriarchs need Quranic rights. Rights mustn’t ever be non secular. If ladies’s safety is compromised within the title of tradition, faith or custom, then we should query that tradition. A society that can’t shield half of its inhabitants is a failed society,” she mentioned.

Who’s Taslima Nasrin?

• Taslima Nasrin, a medical physician by coaching and author by ardour, rose to world consideration in 1993 with the publication of her novel Lajja. Islamic clerics declared the novel blasphemous, resulting in a fatwa in opposition to her. In response, the Bangladesh authorities revoked her passport and ordered her to stop writing.
• In protest of the federal government’s actions, she resigned from her medical occupation in 1993. Dealing with escalating threats to her life, Nasrin fled Bangladesh in a single day and has been residing in exile ever since.
• She initially sought refuge in Sweden and later moved to France. At present, she has requested permission from the Indian authorities to reside in France.
• Nasrin lived in exile in India from 1994 however was compelled to go away Kolkata in 2007 following violent demonstrations by Islamist teams opposing her writings.
• ‘Lajja’ portrays the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh, specializing in the communal violence that adopted the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India in 1992. It narrates the phobia skilled by a Hindu household amid retaliatory assaults.
• One other of her works, Dwikhandito, together with a few of her public statements, sparked widespread controversy and provoked protests that turned violent.
• The scenario escalated to the extent that the West Bengal authorities suggested her to go away the state for her personal security. She was relocated first to Jaipur after which to Delhi below authorities safety earlier than ultimately exiting India.
• Regardless of residing outdoors Kolkata for years, Nasrin has typically expressed a deep emotional connection to town and a want to return. Nonetheless, successive West Bengal governments have declined her requests, citing potential safety threats.
• Although her presence in India continues to be a politically delicate matter, her plea to return has garnered assist from components of the literary and political communities.
• Through the years, Taslima Nasrin has obtained quite a few prestigious awards, together with the Ananda Puroshkar (an Indian literary honour), the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the Kurt Tucholsky Award from Swedish PEN, and the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize in 2004 for her autobiography Amar Meyebela.