Bangladesh has requested the United States to extradite Bangabandhu's killer Rashed Chowdhury who had been awarded capital punishment by the apex court here.
Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen made the plea when US ambassador in Dhaka Earl Miller met him at his office on Thursday.
"I've told the US envoy that you should extradite Bangabandhu's killer Rashed Chowdhury to Bangladesh," Dr Momen told the media after the meeting.
"He [Rashed Chowdhury] has been convicted by our top court following a transparent trial and he is a self-confessed killer," he said.
The envoy acknowledged similar requests made from Bangladesh earlier and said he would convey "our request to the US administration," the minister cited.
He also discussed the Rohingya issue with Mr Miller and sought the US involvement in resolve the crisis.
"I've told them that we've saved the face of top world powers like the USA by sheltering 0.8 million Rohingya," Mr Momen said.
"If we didn't provide shelter to 0.8 million people evicted from their homeland, they could have been killed in genocide and that would be a catastrophic tragedy for world leaders."
"So, the big powers of the world should come forward actively to resolve the issue... Lip service is not enough," Mr Momen continued.
About the US reaction to the December 30 general election, he said, "Mr Miller appreciated our election."
"But they said certain quarters had raised allegations of irregularities. I've told them if there is any allegation, Election Commission can look into it."
Responding to a query, Mr Momen said issues like America's Indo-Pacific strategy and military hardware purchase from the USA also came up at the talks.
"They want to have a discussion with us on the Indo-Pacific strategy. I said there is no problem to discuss the issue," he added.
"We've told them that the USA is our very good business partner. We buy military goods from many countries. We can purchase from the US also," Mr Momen mentioned.
"But I reminded them that the US military hardware is expensive. We need cost-effective products," he added.
The minister told Mr Miller that the US can invest in Bangladesh's energy sector to meet its goal to generate 24,000 megawatt of power.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com
