Exasperated over the “inaction” of the authorities on her repeated pleas to “free” her from a condition of “house arrest”, controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen indicated to the Indian officials on Monday that she has decided to leave India, possibly, for ever.

“It’s simply unbearable and it’s time I take a decision. I just can’t hold on to this pain any more,” Taslima told the DHNS here over telephone from her undisclosed location somewhere near New Delhi.   “The point is I've reached a situation I am unable to bear any more. And the lone option is to leave this country. And that, I believe, is the one and only option now,” she rued.

But despite repeated requests, she declined to divulge the country she is planning to apply for asylum. “There are many nations where I may go; in fact, many countries are ready to welcome me.”

“But leaving India will definitely be a painful decision in my life.” Early January this year, Taslima  complained that her present predicament amounts to being “virtually under house arrest.”

Early January this year, Taslima  complained that her present predicament amounts to being “virtually under house arrest. In an e-mail to some selective friends, which was handed over to mediapersons at a literary fair here, Taslima regretted that her present state of “existence cannot be called living.”

Charging the union home ministry of strictly monitoring the list of visitors to her present place of stay, the address of which is still not known to her, she alleged “I am virtually under house arrest, I long to be back in Kolkata,” Taslima Nasreen concluded in her letter.