``Opposition to demand for ban on Salman Rushdie's book Satanic Verses and ban on staging of marathi play Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy only seek to justify the orchestrated attack by Shiv Sainiks against Fire,'' she said.

Slamming Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his party activists for their `diatribe' against Fire, Azmi said `progressive intellectuals' ought to debate on these aspects to ensure uniform mechanism to tackle issues where sensitive works of art were concerned.

The versatile actress was speaking at the second day session of the ongoing convention Dastak (The Knock) organised in memory of late theatre personality Safdar Hashmi.

N Ram, Editor, The Hindu, also opposed the idea of banning creative works and lamented that noadequate efforts had been made at any level to ensure Rushdie a visa to India.

``But I was not in favour of any weak and fussy liberal thinking which justified staging of a wretched play like on Godse,'' he said.

Bangladeshi journalist turned documentary film maker Shameem Akhtar said ``the word nationalism and patriotism are being continuously blackmailed by the fundamentalist forces and slowly there is a decline in sane and progressive voice'' in her country.

She regretted the growing transition in Bangladesh saying ``originally when nationalism movement was spearheaded it was basically a secular movement but this new concept of Islam has been imposed on us by the clergy.''