BRUSSELS, July 14: ``Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in,'' wrote the poet Robert Frost.

His words, however, do not apply to exiled activists such as Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi writer who fled her homeland three years ago because of the threat to her life by an Islamic `fatwa'.

Taslima is unable to return to her country because she could be killed for having criticised religious laws and for speaking out on behalf of women. She says the government has also made it clear that she is not welcome, but the 34-year-old writer says being forced to live in exile will not keep her silent.

``I shall speak out from my heart. I shall never be silent,'' she said during her keynote address at the recent three-day conference here, organised by the European parliament's green parties to highlight the plight of seven of the world's poorest countries including Bangladesh.

The conference put forth alternative proposals for sustainable development, and part of the discussion centred on improving the situation of women in these countries.

``Without human rights for women, there cannot be any development, sustainable or otherwise,'' Taslima said, citing cases of violence against women in Bangladesh.

``Islamic law is a major obstacle for women's development,'' Taslima declared. ``Islamic groups have attacked development NGOs working with women because they claim that these NGOs distract women from their social role''. But one of her co-panelists, Faiza Jama Mohamed of Somalia, said that it was the ``misinterpretation of Islam'' that was to blame for the oppression of women in some countries, not the religion itself.

Taslima disagreed. ``There are some laws based on religion that don't give women any rights,'' she said. ``My view is that Islam and fundamentalism oppress women. The rules say that a woman who commits adultery should be stoned to death, and the fundamentalists do it. Moderates are against this, that means they aren't following the religion.'' Bangladeshi officials in Brussels, meanwhile, described government initiatives to end discrimination against women in labour and education, saying that quotas had been established to make sure that women were well-represented in certain areas. But Taslima said these rules are not being implemented.

``The mullahs who issue fatwas against women aren't being punished,'' she said in an interview, adding, ``I cannot return to Bangladesh.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.