The government made it clear that the visa of controversial Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasrin cannot be extended beyond August this year and is yet to take a view on her plea for permanent residency in India.
The visa of 47-year-old doctor turned writer was recently extended till August 17 and she was conveyed that this would be the last extension under the miscellaneous category she had applied the visa, official sources said.
Swedish passport-holder Nasrin had sought visa under miscellaneous category in 2005 and it has since been extended initially for a year and later for six months. The visa under this category cannot be extended beyond five years.
The writer was conveyed that she could stay in some country for a few days and later apply afresh for the visa under the same category, pending her request for a permanent residency in the country, the sources said.
The controversial writer, who has been a target of Islamic fundamentalists, returned to India earlier this month to seek extension of her visa.
The writer had earlier expressed her desire to visit Kolkata, which has been turned down on the ground that radical elements may try and harm her, the sources said.
Taslima had earlier left India on March 18, 2008, for Sweden after she was kept at an undisclosed house here for more than four months. She had not been allowed to see any visitor during the period and described her confinement as “a chamber of death”.
She was bundled out of West Bengal in November 2007 in the wake of violent protests by radical Muslim groups there against her.
Taslima has lived in exile in many countries including France, Sweden, the US and India since leaving her home in Dhaka in a cloak of secrecy in 1994. During her stay in India in the last five years, she has periodically travelled abroad with the last trip being in August 2009.
