Escape From The 'Death Chamber'

Taslima Nasreen is leaving India to rescue her life. She does not flee from the threat of the fundamentalists, but from the unbearable conditions in which she is held. For four months now, the Indian Government is keeping her in solitary confinement at an undisclosed location. She is not allowed to meet anybody including closest friends. And worse: she has been denied urgently needed medical treatment. As a result, her health is in alarming condition.

I have been in constant phone contact with Taslima Nasreen in her secret prison. The following shocking document, written by her some days ago and sent to me, has been kept under wraps according to her wishes till the eve of her departure. This morning she told me that I could release it.

SanalEdamaruku

I used to call this the torturechamber. I gradually came to realize that it was the chamber of death instead. Iwas not even allowed to stay in hospital for long though the doctors felt it wasnecessary in order to stabilize my blood pressure. But then, orders are ordersand the government did not want to be inconvenienced by me in any waywhatsoever. The government did not want the media to know I had beenhospitalized. I did not have my mobile phone with me and the doctors at thegovernment's hospital --AIIMS -- were instructed to discharge me after a certainperiod of time. Curiously though, the decision was not left to the doctors as towhat this certain period of time was to be. The last time I was admitted to thishospital a few weeks ago I was suddenly discharged as a result of governmentalpressure. I am sure this was linked to a report in the Times of India whichstated I had been hospitalized.

At this undisclosed location I am neither allowed to go toa doctor for consultation nor is one allowed to come to me. I suffer fromseverely fluctuating blood pressure and the strange thing is that I was not evenallowed to speak to any of the doctors at the hospital over the telephone. Evenafter repeated requests I was not given a single phone number. When I was inhospital, I asked the doctors if I could call them if necessary but they saidthat they were not allowed to hand out their numbers. I had to make inquiriesthrough officials to get even the simplest of answers from these doctors. I havesuffered tremendously both physically and mentally. My blood pressure is nowimpossible to control. The doctors say it is due to stress which I must avoid atall costs. How can I not be stressed when everything is continuously stressingme out? I am brought to this place and incarcerated like some animal; my humanrights constantly and continually violated. I am not allowed to step out or meetanyone. How can I not be stressed? I received the extension of my resident'spermit, but the status quo continued.

And because of the high blood pressure caused by stress, Ideveloped heart disease (hypertrophy) and hypertensive retinopathy, both ofwhich were diagnosed at the hospital. The hypertensive retinopathy willeventually cause me to go blind. The blood pressure if uncontrolled destroy theheart, kidneys and eyes.

Prior to my confinement, my blood pressure had been undercontrol and all my organs were in perfect condition. After returning fromhospital, I wanted to leave this country at the earliest as I knew I would neverbe free from stress here. I said I needed to go to Kolkata urgently to collect afew important documents and other assorted things including bank cards and tosign my tax papers. That too, just the basic permission to visit my Kolkata flatto wrap up my life there, was denied for security reasons.

Even though they constantly pressuredme mentally to leave the country, I refused to budge. I was determined I wouldnot leave this country. When they saw it was pointless trying to destroy mymind, they attempted to destroy my body. In this they succeeded by ruining myhealth which leaves me with no other alternative but to leave this country.

It is important that all this beknown. I made repeated requests to be allowed to consult a medical specialist asmy condition was growing worse with the ever increasing stress I had to face inthis not-so-gilded cage. I was not allowed to see a doctor for more than twomonths. The decision makers asked the officials not to attend to me especiallywhen I desperately needed a doctor. Two months after my initial request, I waseventually taken to a quack to an undisclosed third location who could,unsurprisingly, do nothing at all. I insisted that I had to see a cardiologistor at least a specialist. I was then told that this would entail a visit to thedoctor's chamber. I agreed to go but was told that I would not be allowed to goto a doctor's chamber because of the 'security risks' involved. I fell very illand told the officials I was likely to have a heart attack.

After a few days, at the same undisclosed location, I wasallowed to see a doctor from the AIIMS who prescribed some medicines aftertaking which I fainted. The same night I was admitted to hospital where my bloodpressure fell alarmingly and had to be given life-saving-drugs to survive. Thedoctors told me that I needed to spend two or three weeks in hospital but theofficials whisked me away from the critical care unit after just three days andtook me directly to meet the Minister for External Affairs. The Minister askedme to leave the country the shock of which made my blood pressure shoot up to220/120. I was rushed to the hospital but the doctors were instructed by theofficials not to admit me for 'security reasons'. In my not-so-gilded cage, Ihad no help at all.

It has been nearly eight months thatI have been living under virtual house arrest, in a prison without anyfacilities. I have been asked continuously by the government to leave thiscountry. Naturally, this has upset me a great deal as I left Europe to relocateto India; to make India my permanent home. I settled in Kolkata where I wasliving peacefully in a Bengali milieu. I was very active helping oppressed womenand writing feminist and humanist literature. Just because a few Muslimfundamentalists objected to my being in this country, I was first imprisoned inKolkata and then moved to Delhi. In order for the politicians to secure theirMuslim vote bank, I had to be locked up and, as a consequence, my health wasirreparably destroyed.

Summing Up

• I was not allowed to see a doctor even when my blood pressure was fluctuating uncontrollably because of the stress put on me by the GoI.
• I was not allowed to see a specialist for 'security reasons'.
• I was finally seen by a doctor chosen by the GOI, just after having his prescribed medicine, drug poisoning started, I fainted and I was admitted to a government's hospital. Life-saving-drugs saved my life.
• I was not allowed to stay in hospital for 'security reasons'.
• When it was made clear that I must avoid stress and stressful situations, I was taken from the CCU( cardiac care unit) to meet the Minister for External Affairs who put great mental pressure on me to leave the country.
• When my blood pressure reached 220/120 after talking with the Minister, I begged to get admission in the hospital, but I was not allowed.
• I am not being allowed to go to Kolkata before I leave the country to pack some important things and secure my house.
• I was not allowed to step out for eight months ( 4 months in Kolkata, 3 and 1/2 months in Delhi)
• I was not allowed visiting hours at my place of confinement
• I was not allowed to meet my friends and acquaintances