Tasleema issue: UNPA asks her to keep quiet or leave

November 2007
By SYED AKBAR
Vijayawada, Nov. 24: The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) on Saturday curtly told controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen to either stop hurting religious sentiments or leave India.
The UNPA, which held its first political conclave here, took serious note of the "religious discord" Taslima had been creating in India since she stepped on its shores seeking asylum.
However, the coalition decided not to ask the Centre to extend or deny asylum to the writer. Neither did the meeting pass any resolution though it discussed the issue for long.
Briefing mediapersons after the two-hour conclave, National Conference leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Farooq Abdullah, said that if Taslima wanted to live in peace she should stop writing against religions and creating hatred between communities. "She should apologise for her writings and desist from publishing anything that would hurt the religious sentiments of people," said Mr Abdullah. "We apprehend trouble wherever she goes. We have seen what happened during her visit to Hyderabad."
Mr Abdullah said it was for the Centre to decide whether to extend her asylum. "But on her part, she should ensure that peace prevails in secular India. She must not attack religions. If she wants to do that, let her go to some other country," he said.