Another assault on freedom of speech, this time in India. Is what Taslima Nasreen said offensive? Sure. Should she be deported for giving offense? Who would be left? From Reuters, with thanks to Mathew:
INDIA: Muslims in eastern India urged the government on Thursday to deport a controversial Bangladeshi author, saying she had hurt communal harmony with her anti-Islamic remarks at a recent public meeting.Speaking at a seminar titled "Irrelevance of religion in the era of technology" on Saturday, Taslima Nasreen - known for her controversial views - told a packed hall in the eastern city of Kolkata that she used to abuse Allah as a child and that the Koran "contains contradictions".
Angered by her speech, Muslim leaders have written to the government demanding her immediate deportation and plan to hold protests against her.
"Communal harmony is in danger and she must be asked to leave if she has problems with Muslims," Hasan Ahmed Imran, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Bengal, told Reuters.
The 43-year-old author fled her home country in 1994 after hardline Muslims called for her death following her most controversial book, "Lajja" (Shame), which was banned for blasphemy and suggesting free sex.
Nasreen has since lived in the United States and Europe, before settling in India's eastern state of West Bengal, home to 25 million Muslims. She has applied for Indian citizenship, which Muslim leaders say must not be granted.
Muslim groups said they were incensed by Nasreen's remarks, which they felt had gone well beyond what is considered freedom of speech.
"As a eight-year-old child, I was warned by my mother that if I abused Allah I would be punished, but I did that and nothing happened to me," said Nasreen, as Muslims in the audience walked out of the hall.
Muslim leaders say they have filed a police complaint against Nasreen urging action against her for attempting to disturb peace and inciting communal tensions.
In January 2004, Nasreen was given police protection after an Indian Muslim cleric offered a reward of 20,000 rupees to anyone who blackened her face or garlanded her with shoes, traditionally seen as an insult in south Asia.
"urging action against her for attempting to disturb peace and inciting communal tensions."
It was a technique of the fascists in Italy and Germany to create chaos on the streets, through the violent behaviour of their supporters, and then present themselves as the only ones who could restore order. The Muslims are saying, in effect, that she is trying to disturb the peace - and to prove it they're going to riot and start threatening people.
Communal harmony is in danger and she must be asked to leave if she has problems with Muslims,"
I've got a better idea Mr. Imran. Why don't the muslims go and live in Pakistan where you can be with your brothers in the land of the pure? It just might save your sorry lives when the bloodletting begins in earnest.
"Angered by her speech, Muslim leaders have written to the government demanding her immediate deportation and plan to hold protests against her."
I'm confused. If the Koran is the perfect word of God, why didn't they simply refute what she was saying rather than threatening her?
I highly recommend Nasreen's book "Shame". It gives a very personal, if fictionalized account of the decline of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, and the manner in which it occurred. Those of us who are active in this forum and are familiar with what happens to non-Muslims in so many Muslim countries will be appalled, but not surprised.
"Indian Muslims want Bangladeshi author deported"
Muslims are muslims. They will use Indian, American, French before the "muslim" to make themselves sound legitimate, but deep in their hearts they are only muslims. Always wanting, no demanding, that everything should change because they are humiliated by, where to begin, basically everything that the free world stands for.
William, you are right, THEY should go to pakistan, the land of the pure. Pure what?
I recommend reading "Lajja". Doesn't sound fictitious to me.
And Muslims in Hell want ice water.
Ms. Nasreem should get while the getting's good.
She's shown more courage than 100,000 mullahs.
Time to get some shelter in the West.
Not Britain, though.
Hmmm...
And not in France, either. Nor the Netherlands. Or Sweden. Probably best to skip Germany. And Belgium.
Well, there's always peaceful Canada... no, forget that.
(Is the Antarctic Expedition in need of a poet laureate?)
An interesting thing about this athiest is that the ruling Marxists in Left Bengal have banned her book in the one state where it would be understood in its untranslated form.
Despite her courageous stands, I'm not exactly a fan of hers, though. In the past, she has equated Muslim fanatics in Bangladesh with Hindutva activists in India, which I believe is an odious comparison. She ought to be lauded for speaking up for Bangladeshi Hindus, but by equating fanatics of Islam with those of other religions, she's inadvertantly putting Islam on a pedestal.
As for Left Bengal's 25m Mohammedans, the bulk of them are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. In the topsy turvy world of theirs, they deserve Indian citizenship, but Ms Nasreen doesn't.
William the Crusader, you are right, except, I'd deport all those thugs to Bangladesh, instead of Pakistan. Let there be an Iraq style internecine war there between Bengali speaking and non-Bengali speaking Mohammedans. All India needs do is seal their border (they need to override the Left Front, which is an ally of the ruling Congress), and they'll be just fine.