In a farcical move the Indian government announced that it had
extended the visa granted to Dr Taslima Nasrin though, incredibly,
the Union Home Ministry spokesperson did not know what term the
extension was for. In any event, this extension is not likely to be
for more than 6 months and the visa may just be for a further 3
months stay. The game of political football continues in the very
country that touts itself as a "secular" nation and which is fond of
bragging whenever it gets an opportunity at international fora that
it does more for womens' rights than any other nation in the region.
It is not as if India has not acted fast enough to grant visas or
even citizenship to applicants from neighboring countries before.
Some years ago Pakistani singer Adnan Sami was granted permission to
move to India almost at once when he requested this from then Home
Minister L K Advani at a reception in London. India also granted a
residential visa to Pakistani actress Sonya Jahan (grand-daughter of
singer Noorjehan) without any hesitation though Ms Jahan is now
married to an Indian citizen and is therefore legally entitled to
live in India continuously. This fast-track processing of residency
visas (and citizenship in Mr Sami's case presuming that he followed
through with his citizenship request after his meeting with Mr
Advani) for those who were Pakistani citizens seems, then, a
propaganda stunt of grand proportions to try and show the world that
prominent Pakistanis wanted to move to India while India plays games
with the same application from a Bangladeshi national.
While it would have been impossible for anyone to get any information
about this process in the past, India now has a Right to Information
law under which any Indian citizen can file for information about
this process and ask for documentation related to these and possibly
other residency and citizenship cases. While Dr Nasrin would not be
allowed to file for this information as she is not an Indian citizen
yet, perhaps some of her friends in India could ask for this
information from the Union government as well as from the State of
West Bengal. At the very least, this would tell the world to what
extent the Indian government's claims about being fair and not
discriminating between the sexes in various matters are true,
especially as far as citizenship applications for BAngladeshis vis a
vis Pakistanis and as far as the same for women vs men are concerned.
Mehul Kamdar
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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
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Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
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MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
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Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
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Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
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Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
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MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
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German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
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Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
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VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
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