Imam puts 'unlimited reward' on Taslima's head

Charging her with defaming Islam and the Prophet, an Imam in Kolkata on Friday declared "unlimited reward" on the head of Taslima Nasreen, the controversial  Bangladeshi writer. Taslima was attacked in Hyderabad last week. 

Speaking at a rally after the Friday prayers, Syed Mohammed Noorur Rahman Barkati, imam of the Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid, also demanded that the writer be deported from the country in a month.

"If our demand is not met, there will be an unlimited cash reward for whosoever kills her. The United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and the Left Front government in the state will be responsible for the consequences," he told the gathering at Esplanade, in Kolkata.

'If you harbour Taslima and Rushdie in India, then drive away all the Muslims from this country,' a banner at the rally said.

Alleging that Taslima had exposed Indian Muslims to ridicule and contempt, the imam threatened to organise a road block in front of the writer's residence in Kolkata after the month of Ramzan.

Majidulla Khan, political spokesman of the Mazlis Bachao Committee, Hyderabad, also spoke. Taslima was attacked by Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen members in Hyderabad during a book launch on August 9.