Date:24/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/24/stories/2006082406160500.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Jamaat Council objects to State playing host to Taslima

Thiruvananthapuram: Stung by critical comments on religion by Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, the Kerala Muslim Jamaat Council has objected to allowing the author to attend a book release function at the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.

The council, the apex body of mosque committees in the State, has requested Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan not to allow her to address a function organised at the akademi for release of a Malayalam translation of her works by a private publisher.

``Our point is that the Government should not play host to a person who has deeply hurt the sentiments of a community through her writings and speeches,'' Jamaat Council general secretary A. Pookunju said here on Wednesday.

He, however, said this was not a call for a violent reaction for what she had said during her tour of the State, but an expression of strong dissent from a community whose sentiments had been hurt. — PTI