I have lectured at the U.N. and travelled widely, giving lectures on human rights and gender inequalities in universities. But this is a life I do not wish to live. I don't want to be a showcase, I want to be in a battlefield where I can stand beside the oppressed and the poor.

Those religions that are oppressive to women are also against democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.

In traditional societies, we have a long legacy of men controlling the body and mind of women. Such societies have valorised motherhood and fabricated concepts like chastity. Women have been the victims of these notions for thousands of years.

I am an atheist. I do not believe in prayers, I believe in work. And my work is that of an author. My pen is my weapon.

All I ever want is to return to either Bangladesh, my motherland, or India, my adopted home.

The fundamentalists are increasing. People, afraid to oppose those fundamentalists, shut their mouths. It is really very difficult to make people move against a sensitive issue like religion, which is the source of fundamentalism.

Koranic teaching still insists that the sun moves around the earth. How can we advance when they teach things like that?