Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has whipped up a storm in Nepal, with a comment on social networking site Twitter that was interpreted by some as casting doubts on the republic’s sovereignty.The 48-year-old controversial author, whose books have been banned in Bangladesh forcing her to go into exile since 1994, had been invited to Nepal to attend its first-ever literary festival held in Kathmandu valley from Friday to Sunday.Taslima was to have released an English translation of one of her books at the Ncell Literature Festival, also attended by former BBC chief in India, Mark Tully, on Saturday.However, she missed the flight from New Delhi, where she currently resides, as she had left her passport at home by mistake.By way of an apology, the maverick writer wrote on her Twitter page: “My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn’t consider Nepal a foreign country!”The comment provoked angry retaliation from several Internet users who lambasted her for her “ignorance.” “Controversial author Taslima Nasreen doesn’t know Nepal is a country in itself,” commented an online forum, Nepali.im, while a logger, identifying himself only as Balbahadur, wondered acidly “what else is she ignorant about.”“Taslima Nasreen, the author of bestselling novel Shame, could not come to Kathmandu on Saturday because she did not carry her passport thinking Nepal was part of India,” Nepali portal nepal-news.com reported.One of the organisers of the festival, author Ajit Baral, said the comment had been blown out of proportion and that she had apologised in her subsequent telephone conversation, saying she did not mean to offend Nepalis.Nevertheless, keeping security concerns in mind, Taslima was asked by the organisers not to take the next flight to Kathmandu on Sunday.A chastened Taslima sent out a tweet once more, correcting her error.She said she considered no country a foreign country. “(The) world is ours and we are one,” she wrote.Meanwhile, Taslima by stirring up controversy in Nepal, has proved the decision of the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been correct in refusing to allow her return to her homeland.Senior officials of the Home Ministry said in Dhaka yesterday, Taslima has dug her own grave. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina too is highly embarrassed to read her writings containing references to illicit sex. The doctor-turned-writer was forced to leave her adopted city of Kolkata in November 2007 after riots. Her writings have made her a controversial figure for more than a decade.She first made a name for herself with her feisty newspaper columns, picking up a prestigious Bengali literary award in India for her book, Nirbachito Kolam (Selected Columns) in 1992. She has since written nearly 30 books of poetry, essays, novels and short stories in her native Bengali language, mostly in exile.Taslima fled Bangladesh in 1995 after extremists called for her death following her most controversial book, Lajja (Shame). The book was banned for offending religious sentiments. In August 2007, protesters attacked her during a book launch in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Agencies