-- An Indian author whose memoir
about her dramatic escape from the
Taliban became a Bollywood movie was
shot dead by militants in Afghanistan,
police said Thursday.
Sushmita Banerjee, also known as
Sushmita Bandhopadhya, was killed
outside her home in Paktika province,
according to Dawlat Khan Zadran, the
police chief of eastern Paktika province.
He said suspected Taliban insurgents
broke into her house Wednesday night,
blindfolded and tied up her husband, and
fled with Banerjee.
Her body was found Thursday, dumped
outside a madrasa, or religious school, in
the outskirts of Sharana city, the
provincial capital.
"She had around 20 bullet holes in her
body," Zadran said.
Banerjee gained attention
with her 1995 book, "A
Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife."
It recounts her story of
marrying for love and moving
to Afghanistan in 1989 to be
with her husband. It traces
her life in Afghanistan, her
harassment by the Taliban
and her eventual journey
back to India.
She wrote an article for
India's Outlook magazine in
1998, about her life in
Afghanistan, which she
describes as tolerable until
the Taliban crackdown in
1993.
"I remember it was early
that year that members of
the Taliban came to our
house," she wrote in
Outlook.
"They had heard of the
dispensary I was running
from my house. I am not a
qualified doctor. But I knew
a little about common
ailments, and since there was
no medical help in the vicinity, I thought I
could support myself and keep myself
busy by dispensing medicines. The
members of the Taliban who called on us
were aghast that I, a woman, could be
running a business establishment. They
ordered me to close down the dispensary
and branded me a woman of poor morals.
"They also listed out do's and don'ts. The
burkha was a necessity. Listening to the
radio or playing a tape recorder was
banned. Women were not allowed to go
to shops. They were even prohibited from
stepping out from their houses unless
accompanied by their husbands. All
women had to have the names of their
husbands tattooed on their left hand.
Virtually all interaction between men and
women outside the confines of their own
homes was banned."
In 2003, her book was made into a
Bollywood film, "Escape from Taliban."
Bollywood movies are extremely popular
in Afghanistan.
Banerjee, 49, had recently moved to
Paktika province to live with her husband,
Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan, police
said.
She was a health worker who helped
women in an area that had very few
female health professionals, police said.
Banerjee could have been targeted for
many reasons, including for her book, the
movie, her health work, or even the fact
that she was an Indian woman, Zadran
said.
No group has claimed responsibility for
the attack.
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