India asks for more info on Bangabandhu killers

NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (bdnews24.com): Though Bangladesh and India agreed to finalise the extradition treaty at the earliest, New Delhi has told Dhaka that it could not locate the two absconding killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and asked for additional information about them. "We could not locate them yet, but we have sought additional information from Bangladesh government about them," Indian Home Secretary RK Singh said Monday. Mr Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Monzur Hossain were addressing a news conference a day after the twelfth home secretary-level talks between the two countries that concluded in New Delhi. "If they are in India, we will be happy to help Bangladesh to bring them to justice. We will do our best to find them out and hand them over to Bangladesh government." Though five killers of Bangabandhu were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on January 28, 2010, Abdul Majed and Moslehuddin-both former Bangladesh Army officers and convicted of assassinating the nation's independence hero and most of his family on August 15, 1975 -- are still absconding and evading arrest. A section of media earlier reported that Majed and Moslehuddin might be hiding in India. Mr Hussain said that Bangladesh expected India to provide "assistance in tracking, apprehending and handing over of the killers of Bangabandhu" and Dhaka would provide all information available with it to New Delhi to help it locate them. Singh and Hossain led the Indian and Bangladeshi delegations respectively in the home secretary-level talks that started Saturday. During the two-day talks, both sides agreed that the negotiation on the extradition treaty could be concluded soon so that it could be inked at the earliest. The Indian Home secretary told journalists that New Delhi had given a draft of the proposed treaty to Dhaka and the latter was now studying it. Bangladesh is understood to have sought clarifications and modifications on certain clauses of the draft prepared by India. Both Delhi and Dhaka believe that the Extradition Treaty would complete the legal framework on bilateral security cooperation. Hossain and Singh agreed to operationalise the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Agreement on Combating Organised Crime and Illegal Drug Trafficking, which had been signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January 2010. They also agreed to implement Coordinated Border Management Plan, which had been inked during Chidambaram's visit to Dhaka last July. The two home secretaries reviewed the sharing of intelligence between the two countries and "reaffirmed their resolve to take immediate action on the basis of real time and actionable information through nodal points of the two countries." Both sides agreed to develop mechanisms to further hasten the process of verification of nationality status of prisoners lodged in jails of either country, particularly of those who have completed their sentence, to enable their early repatriation.