Taslima Nasreen 'forced' to leave India again

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has again been "forced" to leave India after her brief stay India, prompting the controversial writer to question the country's alleged secular credentials.

The writer, who returned to India on August 8, said she had to leave on October 15 following the government's dictum. "Yes, I was forced to leave India once again... The government gave me resident permit for 6 months with a secret condition that I must leave the country in a few days," she said in an e-mail interview.

The ex-physician-turned-feminist author, who is under attack from Muslim fundamentalists for her book 'Lajja', said she is now somewhere in Europe, delivering lectures.

Taslima's second exit from India comes seven months after she was forced to leave the country in view of protests by fundamentalist groups against her presence in New Delhi.

Prior to her departure, she had been living in Kolkata since 1994 after being exiled from Bangladesh over her book, which was dubbed anti-Islam by the fundamentalists.

"The condition of getting permission to reside in India is yet a direction for not to reside in India."

She said she will "go back" to India in January. "As the door of Bangladesh is closed for me, my home, I still consider, is in India, in the West Bengal city of Kolkata. If I am not allowed to return there, then it is back to nomadic existence again, without a land, without a home," the author said.

Expressing her angst over being shunted out again and again, she said "India, which prides itself of being the world's largest democracy, an allegedly secular state, could not give shelter to me."

"They (India) could not give shelter to a person whose entire life has been spent in the cause of secular humanism, a person without land or home, who regarded India as her land and Kolkata as her home...," Taslima said.

"I was shocked to see that not a single political party, organisation or institution protested against the way I was treated (in India). Not many individuals, who are regarded as the standard bearer of secularism, have spoken for me," said the Bengali writer of much talked-about books like 'Amar Meyebela' (My Girlhood), 'Utal Hawa' (Wild Wind) and 'Dwikhondito' (Split-up in Two).

Asked whether she still preferred to live in Kolkata, the place from where she was forcibly ousted on November 22 last year, the two-time "Ananda Award" winner said, "Yes, I still prefer Kolkata. I hope I would be allowed to live in Kolkata. I also request Pranab Babu (External Affairs Minister) and Buddha Babu (West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya) to allow me to live in the city," she said.

The author also said that she had no hard feelings against the West Bengal Chief Minister despite that fact that he banned her book 'Dwikhondito'.

"I still respect Buddha Babu even though he has banned my book which encouraged the fundamentalists to issue fatwa against me and start campaign ultimately resulting in my ouster from the city of joy," said the recipient of Simone de Beauvoir Feminist Award, 2008.

Taslima said she is writing her sixth autobiographical book. "I am writing the sixth part of my autobiography while giving lectures on important issues like human rights and freedom of expression," she said.

China 'regrets' Indian minister's remark over Arunachal Pradesh

China said here Tuesday that it deeply regretted India's Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee's remarks calling Arunachal Pradesh a part of India's territory.

'We deeply regret the Indian side's remarks, that take no regard of the historical facts. China and India have never officially settled demarcation of borders, and China's stance on the eastern section of China-India borders is consistent and clear-cut,' said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Qin said the current Chinese government, as well as previous ones, has never recognized the illegal 'McMahon Line' (demarcating the border between India and China by the British), and the Indian side is very clear about that.

Qin was commenting on remarks made Sunday by Mukherjee, in which he said that Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of Indian territory and India will suggest to China that the border be opened for trade.

As for the boundary issue between China and India, the spokesman said China is willing to find a solution, which is fair, reasonable and acceptable to the two sides, through peaceful and friendly negotiation in the spirit of mutual understanding and adjustment.

Obama wanted to talk, says PM

On Board Air India One, Nov 11 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said US president-elect Barak Obama wanted to speak to him after his electoral win but could not because of his (the Indian leader's) visit to the Gulf.

Asked by a reporter why Obama telephoned other world leaders but not him, Manmohan Singh clarified late Monday that this was not true.

"President Obama wanted to talk to me day before yesterday, we could not establish the contact because the time that was suggested was too short for me to interact," Manmohan Singh told reporters as he flew home after visiting Qatar and Oman.

"Since then I have been travelling for the last two days," he said, adding he would talk to Obama after returning to New Delhi.

Manmohan Singh said he had "a very warm letter" from Obama even before he was elected the president.

"I had myself written to him a very warm letter and I got from him a warm and detailed (letter), spelling out his approach to India, his approach to international affairs.

"Therefore, I have every reason to believe that India's relations with the US under President Obama will become stronger than ever before.

"I also condoled his grandmother's death and he immediately acknowledged that letter."

I am waiting to be arrested: Thackeray dares Kamat

Stating that Shiv Sena was ready to provide the best lawyers to defend Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in connection with Malegaon blast, Sena Chief Bal Thackeray today ridiculed Congress MP Gurudas Kamat who has demanded his arrest for backing her. "Whenever Congressmen have feats of Muslim appeasement, they dream of my arrest" Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

Speaking at a function held here recently to felicitate Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on his government completing four years in office, Kamat had said Thackeray should be put in jail for supporting the sadhvi. "Even Deshmukh must have squirmed when Kamat made this demand," the octogenarian Thackeray, whose son Uddhav now virtually manages Sena affairs, said.

The blast case is being probed under pressure and attempt is being made to brand people as 'Hindu terrorists', Thackeray, who had last month demanded that troops be sent inside mosques to flush out Islamic militants, said. Stating that he had never been afraid of being arrested, Thackeray asked the government to clarify whether he would be arrested for supporting Hindus in 'Hindustan' or for thwarting danger to the Marathi pride in Maharashtra.

Thackeray recalled when late Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik had got him arrested and sent to Pune's Yerwada jail, there was arson in Maharashtra and he had to appeal for peace. "Is it not your simple calculation that Hindutva forces would be crushed and your Muslim vote bank would be strengthened if you arrest me in connection with the sadhvi case," Thackeray said.

India thrash Aus by 172 runs to regain Border-Gavaskar Trophy

S S Ramaswamy Nagpur, Nov 10 (PTI) India today gave ample proof of its status as a dominant force in world cricket as they thrashed Australia by 172 runs in the fourth and final cricket Test to regain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy after a gap of four years here today. After settting the visitors a daunting target of 382 for victory, the Indians exploited a turning fifth day track to skittle out the Aussies for 209 just before the tea break to wrap up the four-match series with a 2-0 margin.

It turned out to be a perfect gift for Sourav Ganguly by his teammates in his farewell Test as they knocked out the Aussies in just about two sessions of play on the last day. Only Matthew Hayden stood bravely amidst the ruins with a 93-ball 77 as the Indian bowlers ripped through the batting line up to bring an end to the Australian innings rather quickly.

Leg spinner Amit Mishra (4/64) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (3/27) were the main destructors for the hosts who made amends for losing the home series 1-2 in the 2004-05 series.

At 58, I am still very young to retire: Mittal

The richest Indian and steel czar Lakshmi N Mittal may have worked hard to create the world's biggest steel entity, but says he's not tired and is not yet ready to hang his boots.

"Today, I feel very young at 58," Mittal said in a telephonic interview a short while after he along with his son Aditya Mittal addressed the global financial press on Arcelor-Mittal's performance in the quarter ending September 2008 that saw the company's net profit surging 29 per cent to USD 3.8 billion.

Mittal, who turned 58 in June this year, was responding to a query if he was looking for a succession plan and passing on the baton of his empire that controls over 10 per cent of global steel output.

"Yes, Sure" was his reply to another query on whether he would be heard and seen in future also.

Indian student killed in US, 5th such crime in 1 year

A woman student from Andhra Pradesh was found murdered in the US by unidentified persons in the fifth case of a young post-graduate student from the state being killed under mysterious circumstances in that country in the last one year.

Arpana Jinaga (24), student of MS at Seattle, was killed in the early hours (IST) of Saturday, family sources said.

The incident came to light after three days and an investigation has begun, they said.

The cause and circumstances of the murder were not immediately known.

Jinaga completed her engineering from a city-based private engineering college in 2005.

She was working as a software engineer and simultaneously pursuing MS. She is among top-20 professionals of embedded systems in the world, the sources said.

Jinaga's father, B C Jinaga, is a professor with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University here and heads the School of Information Technology.

The murder of Jinaga came close on the heels of a string of murders of NRIs from Andhra Pradesh.

While A Srinivas, a PG medical student, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, both PhD students, were killed last year, T Soumya Reddy and her cousin Vikram Reddy were killed in September, 2008.