Poet Shamsul Haq and freedom of expression

Taslima is a controversial writer and she attacked social and religious beliefs of our society. She never produced very quality writing and she used to long for popularity. However, she managed some supporters in our country and certainly Mr. Haq was one of them.

Her recently published autobiography has brought controversy again. She described her personal relationship with some of the country's prominent writers and portrayed them as lechers. Poet Shamsul Haq is one of the victims, nonetheless. Still, we will be advocating for freedom of expression since it is a democratic right. Poet Milton described it wonderfully in Areopagitica when he impassionedly uttered, "Banning a book is like killing a man............". Though he was a puritan, Milton was very vocal against any form of licensing and thus his "Areopagitica" became a masterpiece in advocating freedom of expression.

Nonetheless, banning a book is never a good idea and Taslima has got the right to write anything . As a writer, she must enjoy this liberty. If someone feels insulted, he might go to the court. Freedom of expression should be upheld limitlessly everywhere whether we like a write-up or not.

This is in response to Syed Shamsul Haq's piece "I speak of the freedom of the pen" that appeared on November17, 2003.

Something that should be considered absolutely personal has become public for these two writers ( 'he' and 'she'). Both of them are the conscious catalysts of the Western world. First, the duty was successfully done by 'she' bringing her intimate experiences to public using the pen, and then 'he' took the responsibility on his shoulder of advertising the book "Ka" in Bangladesh for accelerating their publicity at the cost of their prestige. The strictly personal matter is now a nation-wide gossip and probably soon will be an international one.

The Western media is deliberate whereas the Eastern is an instrument of the West and together they are contributing to make the issue public. These two writers are cent percent honest about abusing the freedom of their pen, and both 'he' and 'she' are using this issue to become more famous at home and abroad at the cost of their self-respect and prestige. With the license of their pen's freedom, they are hampering the freedom of the peace loving people.

We hope that both 'he' and 'she' will perceive the truth. And we hope both of them will write for the betterment of society in future.

JM Taslim Kabir, A Bangladeshi Perceiver