News Desk: The foreign ministry has sent a diplomatic note to the Indian government, informing them that Dhaka wants ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to be sent back. Indian foreign ministry says ‘no comment at this time.
“We sent a note verbale (diplomatic message) to the Indian government saying that the Bangladesh government wants her (Hasina) back here for the judicial process,” Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain told reporters at the foreign ministry yesterday afternoon.
Earlier in the morning, Home Adviser Jahangir Alam said that his ministry had written to the foreign ministry, asking it to facilitate the return of Hasina from India.
“We have sent a letter to the foreign ministry regarding her extradition. The process is currently underway,” he told reporters at an event held at the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters in Dhaka’s Pilkhana.
On the method of her return, Jahangir said it would be done under a prisoner exchange agreement with India.
The Indian media in the evening reported that the country’s Ministry of External Affairs received a note verbale from Bangladesh in connection with the extradition request for Hasina
The ministry, however, refrained from commenting on the matter at this moment.
“We confirm that we have received a note verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission today in connection with an extradition request. At this time, we have no comment to offer on this matter,” India Today quoted Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as saying in a media briefing.
Hasina has been accused in over a hundred legal cases and is facing a multitude of charges, including murder, genocide and crimes against humanity over casualties during the mass uprising that resulted in her ouster on August 5.
The planned extradition of Hasina falls within the legal framework of a treaty signed between Bangladesh and India in 2013 and amended in 2016.
But the treaty states, “Extradition may be refused if the offence for which it is requested is an offence of a political character.”
Another ground for refusal of extradition is if the charges being pressed have not been “made in good faith, in the interest of justice”.
The treaty, however, also says that certain offences — like murder — “shall not be regarded as offences of a political character” for the purposes of the treaty.
Earlier, on October 17, a three-member International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) bench led by its Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mazumdar issued arrest warrants for 46 people, including Hasina and former minister Obaidul Quader, in separate cases.
ICT Chief Prosecutor Md Tajul Islam had earlier said that they would seek to bring back Hasina in time to stand trial.