New Delhi: The Government of India has extended the controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's visa. Ministry of External Affairs today said that as Taslima is the guest in India she will get the same privilege.

Confirming the visa extension of Taslima an MEA spokesperson said, "Taslima is our guest and so we have offered her the same privilege."

However, Tasliama has denied to make any comments on the news and said to a TV channel that she will react when she will receive the official statement.

Although the govenment has extended Taslima's visa three days before its expiry, but advised her not to "hurt the sentiments of the many communities".

Ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said India has extended the visa for Nasreen, who has come to India after she was threatened by religious extremists in Bangladesh offended by her writings. Nasreen's visa - or residential permit - was due to expire on February 17.

"It is incumbent on those who are welcomed as guests in India that they remain sensitive to India's traditions and do not conduct themselves in a manner that either affects our relations with other countries or cause hurt to our secular ethos," the spokesman said.

He added that such guests should "not undertake actions that could hurt the sentiments of the many communities that make up our multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation".

The spokesman said that such "restraints" were also respected by Indians themselves, which should be respected by "guests" in this country. "These are the same restraints which we in India follow. We expect nothing less from our guests," Sarna said.

"Throughout its history, India has a tradition of offering hospitality to those who seek it. It has also afforded protection to those who have come as our guests. Taslima Nasreen is our guest and, in keeping with our traditions, we have offered her the same privileges," he said.

Nasreen is currently living in an undisclosed location in the Indian Capital, after she was forced to leave Kolkata following violent protests by Muslim groups in November 2007.

West Bengal's ruling Left Front, which is going all out to garner Muslim votes, shunted out Nasreen on November 21 last year after street riots in Kolkata over her extended stay in India.

She was recently conferred the Prix Simone de Beauvoir by the French Government for her writing, but she was not allowed to receive the award from French President Nicolas Sarkozy when he visited India last month.

Nasreen, who was already living confined in a Kolkata apartment, was taken first to Jaipur and then to New Delhi by the Central government and has since been kept in confinement at a safe house.

On November 30, 2007 Nasreen had agreed to expunge controversial portions from her biography "Dwikhandita" (Split in Two). Though patriarch of the state's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Jyoti Basu said on December 25 that Nasreen was welcome to return to Kolkata, the Left Front government has chosen to remain silent on her plight.

Source : Agencies