Taslima Supporters Threatened in India

According to a December 21 UPI report from India, a recent letter threatened bomb attacks against the offices of the All-Assam Students Union and a Hindu fundamentalist political party. The reason given for the threats was that both organizations have publicly supported embattled author Taslima Nasreen:

Officials say the handwritten letter from eight persons claiming to be from Pakistan's ISI and al-Qaida cited the World Trade Center attacks in the United States as an example of what could happen.

"Your offer to (Bangladeshi writer) Taslima Nasreen to stay in Assam is against Islam and its tenets," The Hindustan Times reported the letter saying. "If you don't stop your activities immediately a powerful bomb will be exploded in your main office."

The letter, received Thursday, was allegedly written in the Bangladeshi style known as Assamese and was dated Dec. 11.

Local police have been notified and are investigating.