A global movement of these folks, and we might be getting somewhere. Taslima Nasreen Update: “‘Secular’ Muslims want Taslima back in Kolkata,” from IANS (thanks to lgn):
Kolkata: A section of secular Muslims on Monday spearheaded a move to bring controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen back to the city from where she was shunted out by West Bengal’s ruling communists following street riots late last year.
Ostensibly for her own security, Taslima Nasreen has been kept virtually in seclusion by the central government at a ‘safe house’ somewhere in New Delhi.
The Dharmamukto Manabbadi Mancha (DMM) (Secular Humanist Forum), an organization of “secular” Muslims, Monday demanded that Taslima be allowed to return to the city.
“Taslima should not be kept under house arrest like now. She should get back her normal life and immediately allowed to return to Kolkata,” said Giyasuddin, president, DMM. The meeting was attended by eminent writer Mahasweta Devi.
“A wrong campaign is doing the rounds. Everywhere it is being circulated that the Muslims want her out of the city. But those who took part in the street riots on Nov 21 that triggered her ouster from the city were hired rowdies. Not every Muslim locality of Kolkata had taken to the streets,” he said.
“It is an insult to the Muslim society when it is said that the Muslims want her out of Kolkata or India. Some self-declared representatives of the Muslims should not have the last word,” he said.
“Maulana Bukhari, the imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, had gone to Nandigram as an envoy of the West Bengal chief minister, but he was rejected by the Muslims of Nandigram. Imams alone do not represent the Muslims,” Giyasuddin said.
“We also demand that besides adequate security arrangements for her, she should also be allowed to visit the Kolkata Book Fair beginning Jan 30 and action taken against those clerics who issued a fatwa (decree) to kill her,” Giyasuddin said.
It’s a start.