Dhaka will raise the issue of repatriating Nur Hossain, the alleged mastermind of the seven murders in Narayanganj, during upcoming home secretary and foreign minister-level talks between Bangladesh and India next month.
“It is a sensitive issue and we will discuss it all forums including foreign minister-level talks and home secretary-level talks,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The foreign minister-level talks, known as Joint Consultative Commission (JCC), will be held in the third week of September; while Indian Home Secretary Anil Goswami is scheduled to come to Dhaka for a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Mozammel Haque Khan on September 2.
The state minister said it is expected that India will repatriate Nur Hossain after completing their investigation and exhausting legal procedures. He, however, did not comment on how long the process might take as it was up to the West Bengal court to decide.
The repatriation issue was also discussed when Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj came to Dhaka in June, Shahriar Alam said.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry yesterday told a parliamentary watchdog that the Indian authorities have consented to send back Nur Hossain to Dhaka on “special consideration” for his trial in Bangladesh.
In a meeting at the parliament building, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Ministry discussed the level of implementation of its recommendation to bring Nur Hossain back for trial, and said Nur’s trial would demonstrate the government’s commitment to establish the rule of law.
“We asked [Home Ministry] about the progress in bringing back Nur Hossain. The ministry officials informed us that India has agreed to send him back to us on special consideration,” Tipu Munshi, the chairman of the 10-member standing committee, told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting.
He said Delhi had sought many documents including warrant orders against Nur Hossain, who faces a red alert in the Interpol.
“The Home Ministry had sent the papers to the Foreign Ministry that has been negotiating with the Indian authorities for his extradition... We hope that Nur Hossain will be sent back soon,” said the chairman.
This is, however, not the first time such an assurance has reportedly come from Delhi.
On July 2, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told parliament that the Indian government had agreed to hand over Nur Hossain. Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj had assured the extradition of Nur Hossain during her recent visit, he added.
Nur, who faces several murder charges, allegedly financed some RAB officials for the abduction and murder of seven of his rivals last April. The government later arrested the suspected RAB officials, but Nur fled to India, allegedly with the help of local MP Shamim Osman.
On June 15, the West Bengal police arrested him with some of his accomplices from Kolkata. He has been in Indian custody since then.
JCC meeting
On a separate note, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that the upcoming Joint Consultative Commission – the third one since it was launched in 2012 – would discuss all issues of mutual interest.
“We have several important issues, including land boundary agreement, Teesta water sharing and border management and border killing, and energy cooperation to be discussed in the forum,” he said.
The state minister said energy was a new area of cooperation and both the countries would discuss it at the JCC.
It was politically decided that Bangladesh would get 100MW of electricity from Palatana power plant and the Power Ministry is now working on the technical aspects, he said.
Bangladesh currently imports 500MW of power from India.
Hasina-Modi meeting
The state minister also said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi would meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.
After assuming power Modi stressed on having good relations with neighbours and visited Bhutan and Nepal within the last two months. He also sent his Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to Dhaka where she said New Delhi wanted to have good relations with its neighbours, including Bangladesh.
The Indian prime minister invited all heads of states of all South Asian countries to attend his swearing-in ceremony in May but Hasina could not attend it as she was in Japan at that time.