STOCKHOLM -- Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin may be lying low in Sweden for the moment, but she is unlikely to stay quiet for long and will probably resume her battle with Islamic traditionalists, friends said Thursday.


"She's not going to be living in a concrete bunker, locked up and hidden away, that's why she came to Sweden," said Gabi Gleichmann, head of the Swedish PEN club which brought Nasrin to Sweden.


"She's come here to work and get around and she'll be popping up here and there," said Gleichmann.


Nasrin, 32, arrived secretly in Stockholm on Tuesday from Bangladesh, escaping death threats which had forced the physician-turned-author into hiding for two months.


She was immediately whisked to a secret hideout where she will be protected by police, Foreign Minister Margaretha af Ugglas said.


Friends' comments, however, suggest that Nasrin will not be forced into the sort of life in hiding endured by British writer Salman Rushdie, who has appeared only sporadically in public since the publication of his book "The Satanic Verses," which also prompted calls for the author's execution for blasphemy.


In her home country, officials concerned at growing protests against Nasrin breathed a sigh of relief when they learned she had left the country, but demonstrations continued.


"This is part of a filthy game the government has played with its people," said Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, deputy chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's biggest Islamic political party.


"They have not only harbored the shameless, rotten Nasrin for months but then ensured her a safe passage to flee away," he said, adding the government had "bowed to pressures from its foreign masters. It must pay for it."


About 1,500 militants from the United Islamic Action Committee chanted "Taslima Nasrin must be hanged" as they marched in Dhaka on Thursday, witnesses said. More demonstrations were planned later in the day.


"Bring her back, we shall then take care of her," one protester said.


Nasrin had been in hiding since June 4 after the government ordered her arrest for insulting Moslem religious feelings by telling India's Statesman newspaper that Islam's holy book, the Koran, should be "revised thoroughly."


Nasrin later said she was misquoted but the newspaper stood by its report.


Her comments provoked Moslem fury and Islamic militants offered cash rewards for her death.


Police said Thursday they had tightened security around the Swedish Embassy in Dhaka and the diplomatic missions of other countries that supported Nasrin.


In Sweden, where more than 70,000 Moslems live, Nasrin is likely to be in much less danger than she was at home, although the country's Moslem Council accused her of trying to make money out of anti-Islamic statements.


"She just wants to get well known and earn money on the back of hatred of Islam," said council spokesman Mahmoud Aldebe. "She should stick to what she's been educated for."


Swedish police said they did not expect any demonstrations against Nasrin.


Gleichmann, who met Nasrin at Stockholm's Arlanda airport Wednesday, described her as an "unhappy and frightened" woman. He said Nasrin would rest for "a while" before making any public appearances.


The author has been granted a three-month tourist visa that could be renewed easily. Neighboring Norway has also granted her a visa.