BANGLADESH

Foreign minister Dipu Moni will call on secretary of state Hillary Clinton today (Wednesday).

The meeting will take place at 3pm Washington time, Bangladesh ambassador to the US Akramul Qader told bdnews24.com on Wednesday morning.

"It will be an open meeting as no specific agenda has been fixed," he said.

This will be the first foreign ministerial-level meeting between the two countries since the strife over removal of noble laureate Muhammad Yunus from his role as the Grameen Bank chief in the beginning of this year.

Washington expressed dissatisfaction over the move and US assistant secretary Robert Blake visited Dhaka to explain the US stance on the matter. However, Bangladesh remained firm on its stance and said that Yunus' removal was an internal matter of the country.

Earlier, Blake attended a dinner hosted by Bangladeshi Ambassador Qader in the honour of the Bangladeshi foreign minister at Bangladesh House on Tuesday night.

BANGABANDHU KILLER

The Bangladeshi envoy said he had handed over a letter to the US authorities to deport Bangabandhu killer Rashed Chowdhury.

On Oct 5, Dipu Moni sent two letters to Hillary Clinton and Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird through diplomatic channels to seek their help to deport two Bangabandhu killers.

Death sentence convicts Lt Col (retd) M Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury are in the US and Canada, respectively.

"We still don't know the immigration status of Rashed Chowdhury ... we requested the authorities to inform us on the issue," he said.

Qader said, "He (Rashed) is a killer and we must explore all possibilities to bring him back to Bangladesh."

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were brutally killed in Aug 1975 by some army officials. Out of the 12 convicts, five were hanged in 2010, one died and six are absconding.

Colonel (retd) Khandkar Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (retd) Shariful Haque Dalim, Abdul Mazed and Moslehuddin are absconding, while Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe.

Interpol has issued a warrant of arrest against the absconders.

The rest convicts – Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, Mohiuddin Ahmed and AKM Mohiuddin – were hanged on Jan 28 last year.