Taslima Nasreen’s India visa extended for a year

New Delhi: The home ministry has extended the visa of controversial Bang-ladesh writer Taslima Nasreen for a period of one year starting July 23. The approval for visa extension was granted by home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday.

The Centre has been regularly extending Ms Nasreen’s visa annually since 2004 while she is a citizen of Sweden and the extension has been granted on basis of her Swedish passport. The author left Bangladesh in 1994 following threats from some radical organisations following controversy over some of her writings.

During her exile, Ms Nasreen has also lived in Europe and US ev-en as she has applied for a permanent residency in India as she is keen on living in Kolkatta. The decision on her permanent residency application is still pending with the Centre. Ms Nasreen had to leave Kolkatta also in 2007 following prote-sts from some Muslim organisations in the city.