Taslima's passport tweet angers Nepal

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin who has been living in exile since 1994 has tweeted herself to a new controversy in Nepal. Utpal Parashar reports.

Updated on: Aug 22, 2011, 24:49:12 IST

Hindustan Times | By Utpal Parashar, Kathmandu

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Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin who has been living in exile since 1994 has tweeted herself to a new controversy in Nepal.

The author was to arrive in Kathmandu on Saturday to attend the country’s first literature festival, but a post on Twitter has ensured she won’t come visiting anytime soon.

Nasrin who currently resides in New Delhi missed her flight to Kathmandu on Saturday as she forgot to bring her Swedish passport. Airport authorities didn’t let her board the flight.

"My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn’t consider Nepal a foreign country!" she soon wrote on her Twitter page.

The comment offended many of her Nepali followers on the micro-blogging site who ridiculed her lack of knowledge about world geography and blamed her of thinking that Nepal was a part of India.

Nasrin was shocked and hurt that her Nepali friends were offended by her "feeling of closeness 2 (to) Nepal".

Undeterred she planned to arrive here on Sunday to take part in the last day of the festival but that also had to be shelved due to adverse reaction to the tweet and concerns about her safety.

Organizers of the festival asked Nasrin to cancel her trip as they didn’t want any controversy and were unable to guarantee her the kind of security she had sought to make an appearance.

"Many Nepalis were offended by her comment and some were planning to hold protests. We were worried about her safety and asked her to cancel the trip,” festival director Ajit Baral told HT.

The literature festival modeled on the popular Jaipur literature festival has witnessed the biggest gathering of Nepali writers and others like former BBC India bureau chief Mark Tully and novelist Ira Trivedi.

Meanwhile Nasrin tweeted--"I’ll always love you, Nepal. I’ll long for the touch of your hand. I’ll wait to see your beauty I haven’t seen yet,"---that wait could now be a long one.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Utpal Parashar
A seasoned senior journalist, I have nearly three decades of experience across print, digital, and online platforms, covering political transitions, insurgencies, environmental issues, and development stories in India and Nepal. I am skilled in breaking news, leading editorial teams and launch of newspaper editions. I am adept at leveraging digital trends and social media to expand global reach, with a strong ethical foundation and a reputation for impactful journalism. An alumnus of Asian College of Journalism, I joined Hindustan Times in New Delhi as a trainee reporter in May 1997. Over the years, I have been posted in Dehradun, Kathmandu (Nepal) and Guwahati. Currently, as Senior Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times, I lead a team reporting on India’s northeastern states. My work involves in-depth analysis, and engaging multimedia storytelling across formats, including text, photo, video, and interactive content. I am skilled in producing timely, shareable content, leveraging digital platforms and social media to engage global audiences. Throughout my career with the Hindustan Times, I have led diverse editorial teams, designed capacity-building activities, and supported reporters in developing strong story ideas, ethical reporting practices, digital skills, and fact-checking techniques. As Senior Assistant Editor for Northeast India, I have been responsible for guiding correspondents through complex political, humanitarian, and community-level stories using multimedia formats. Earlier, as Foreign Correspondent in Nepal, I produced extensive reporting during Nepal’s democratic transition and the 2015 earthquake and its aftermath.Read More

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