Destination Delhi

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India was coinciding,interestingly,with a planned trip of another prominent Bangladeshi — Taslima Nasreen. The well-known author was to arrive here on Saturday,just a day before Hasina landed. This had set off speculation among official circles whether the activist writer,who had to leave Bangladesh in the early 1990s following massive protests against her book Lajja,would be meeting Hasina. With Khaleda Zia now out of power in Dhaka,Nasreen has pinned her hopes on Hasina. She has even petitioned the new Bangladesh PM to let her return home. But much to everyone’s surprise,Taslima called off her trip 24 hours before she was expected to touch down. Was it last minute advice from either Dhaka or Delhi?