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 R K Singh said on Monday.
Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart Monzur Hossain were addressing a news conference a day after the twelfth home secretary-level talks between the two countries concluded in New Delhi.
"If they are in India, we will be happy to help Bangladesh to bring them to justice. We will leave no stone unturned to find them and hand them over to Bangladesh government."
Though five killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on Jan 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 Aug 15, 1975—are still absconding and evading the noose.
A section of media earlier reported that Majed and Moslehuddin might be hiding in India.
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.
Of the five other absconding convicts in the case related to killing of Bangabandhu, M Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury are believed to be living in US and Canada, while Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe. Apart from Majed and Moslehuddin, Khandkar Abdur Rashid and Shariful Haque Dalim could not be traced yet.
Indian home minister P Chidambaram had on July 30 said in Dhaka that New Delhi would make all possible efforts to locate the killers of Bangabandhu and hand them over to authorities in Bangladesh.
Singh and Hossain led the Indian and Bangladeshi delegations respectively in the home secretary-level talks that started on 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. Singh 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 New 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 New Delhi 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.
They also discussed about hand-over of Indian insurgent leader Anup Chetia, who served a jail sentence in Bangladesh after being caught in 1997. Hossain informed Singh that a legal process was on and Chetia's plea for asylum was before a court in Bangladesh. Dhaka and Delhi would move forward on the issue after the legal process was over.
"Both sides agreed to provide consular access for expediting verification of nationality of persons lodged in the jails. In order to further intensify people-to-people contact, both sides agreed to discuss visa-related issues in the next meeting on Agreement for Revised Travel Arrangements, which would be held soon," read the joint statement issued after the conclusion of talks between the home secretaries.
Though a Bangladeshi citizen was shot dead by India's Border Security Force personnel just a few hours before the two home secretaries commenced their talks on Saturday, the two sides "noted with appreciation the firing incidence along the international border considerably reduced." Both sides agreed that utmost restraint would be exercised to avoid human casualty.
They agreed to enhance cooperation in capacity building of police and other law-enforcing agencies. Dhaka welcomed the offer made by New Delhi for training of police personnel of Bangladesh and cooperation for capacity building of police.
Singh lauded Dhaka's efforts to address security concerns of New Delhi over the past one-and-a-half years.
Due to tacit cooperation between the security agencies of Bangladesh and India earlier in 2009 and 2010, a number of top leaders of insurgent organisations active in northeastern Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur had landed in the custody of the law-enforcing agencies of India. New Delhi appreciated the cooperation from Dhaka in international forums.
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sep 24 last, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had upheld the security cooperation between his country and Bangladesh as an example.
"In South Asia, there are encouraging signs of cooperation in the area of security, as exemplified in India's growing cooperation with Bangladesh. Such cooperation is adding to the security of both our countries," he had said.
"We could not locate them yet, but we have sought additional information from Bangladesh government about them," Indian home secretary R K Singh said on Monday.
Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart Monzur Hossain were addressing a news conference a day after the twelfth home secretary-level talks between the two countries concluded in New Delhi.
"If they are in India, we will be happy to help Bangladesh to bring them to justice. We will leave no stone unturned to find them and hand them over to Bangladesh government."
Though five killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on Jan 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 Aug 15, 1975—are still absconding and evading the noose.
A section of media earlier reported that Majed and Moslehuddin might be hiding in India.
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.
Of the five other absconding convicts in the case related to killing of Bangabandhu, M Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury are believed to be living in US and Canada, while Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe. Apart from Majed and Moslehuddin, Khandkar Abdur Rashid and Shariful Haque Dalim could not be traced yet.
Indian home minister P Chidambaram had on July 30 said in Dhaka that New Delhi would make all possible efforts to locate the killers of Bangabandhu and hand them over to authorities in Bangladesh.
Singh and Hossain led the Indian and Bangladeshi delegations respectively in the home secretary-level talks that started on 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. Singh 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 New 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 New Delhi 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.
They also discussed about hand-over of Indian insurgent leader Anup Chetia, who served a jail sentence in Bangladesh after being caught in 1997. Hossain informed Singh that a legal process was on and Chetia's plea for asylum was before a court in Bangladesh. Dhaka and Delhi would move forward on the issue after the legal process was over.
"Both sides agreed to provide consular access for expediting verification of nationality of persons lodged in the jails. In order to further intensify people-to-people contact, both sides agreed to discuss visa-related issues in the next meeting on Agreement for Revised Travel Arrangements, which would be held soon," read the joint statement issued after the conclusion of talks between the home secretaries.
Though a Bangladeshi citizen was shot dead by India's Border Security Force personnel just a few hours before the two home secretaries commenced their talks on Saturday, the two sides "noted with appreciation the firing incidence along the international border considerably reduced." Both sides agreed that utmost restraint would be exercised to avoid human casualty.
They agreed to enhance cooperation in capacity building of police and other law-enforcing agencies. Dhaka welcomed the offer made by New Delhi for training of police personnel of Bangladesh and cooperation for capacity building of police.
Singh lauded Dhaka's efforts to address security concerns of New Delhi over the past one-and-a-half years.
Due to tacit cooperation between the security agencies of Bangladesh and India earlier in 2009 and 2010, a number of top leaders of insurgent organisations active in northeastern Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur had landed in the custody of the law-enforcing agencies of India. New Delhi appreciated the cooperation from Dhaka in international forums.
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sep 24 last, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had upheld the security cooperation between his country and Bangladesh as an example.
"In South Asia, there are encouraging signs of cooperation in the area of security, as exemplified in India's growing cooperation with Bangladesh. Such cooperation is adding to the security of both our countries," he had said.
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