Bangladesh seeks extradition of former PM Hasina, sends request to India

Dhaka, Dec 23 (IANS) The interim government in Bangladesh on Monday said that it has sent a diplomatic note to the Indian government, asking for extradition of the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

A leading voice in the struggle to restore democracy in the country, Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had to flee the country in an ignominious manner and seek refuge in India on August 5, earlier this year.

Touhid Hossain, the interim government's Foreign Affairs Advisor, confirmed the latest development in Dhaka on Monday afternoon.

"We have informed India. We have conveyed our request for Sheikh Hasina's return for judicial purposes. This has been communicated through a note verbale (diplomatic note)," Hossain told local media.

Earlier in the day, the country's Home Affairs Advisor, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury had said that his ministry had written to Hossain's office to facilitate the return of the ousted Prime Minister from India.

"We have sent a letter to the foreign ministry regarding her extradition. The process is currently underway. They have an extradition agreement with us," Chowdhury was quoted as saying by the country's leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo.

Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had travelled to Dhaka and held talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Md. Jashim Uddin and also called on Towhid Hossain and Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus.

The meetings took place as relations between the two countries had nosedived over the past few months with India being extremely concerned about the surge in extremist rhetoric, increasing incidents of violence, and provocations, especially against the Hindu community, in Bangladesh.

In September, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar had also held a bilateral meeting with Hossain on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York which was the first high-level engagement between the two countries after Hasina's ouster in August.

Hasina has also strongly condemned the "tortures" inflicted on common people, especially minorities, by the interim government.

"A top leader of the Sanatan religious community has been unjustly arrested, he must be released immediately," said the Bangladesh Awami League (AL) President after the arrest and jailing of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a spokesperson of the Bangladesh Sammilit Sanatan Jagran Jote who is also associated with Iskcon Bangladesh.

"A temple has been burnt in Chittagong. Previously, mosques, shrines, churches, monasteries and houses of the Ahmadiyya community were attacked, vandalized and looted and set on fire. Religious freedom and security of life and property of people of all communities should be ensured," Hasina stated.

"After the killing of innumerable Awami League leaders and workers, students and members of the law and order forces, harassment is going on through assaults and arrests. I strongly condemn and protest against these anarchist activities," she had added.

--IANS

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