The government has sought the return of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India for shelter on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising, after about four months and a half of her stay there.
鈥榃e have informed the Indian government that she is wanted here for a judicial process,鈥� foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain told reporters at the foreign ministry on Monday.
鈥楢 note verbale has been sent to the Indian government through the diplomatic channel in this regard,鈥� he added.
Amid rising demands for extradition of the ousted prime minister for trial, the foreign ministry requested its Indian counterpart to send her back.
India on Monday confirmed receiving an official request from the Bangladesh interim government, seeking extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to Dhaka, reports indiatoday.in.
鈥榃e confirm that we have received a note verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission today in connection with an extradition request. Currently, we have no comment to offer on this matter,鈥� Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a media briefing, the report added.
Hasina is facing an International Crimes Tribunal warrant for her arrest on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the July-August mass uprising besides scores of murder cases.
The foreign ministry took the move in an inter-ministerial meeting with the advisers for law and home affairs recently, foreign ministry officials confirmed.聽聽
Earlier on the day, home affairs adviser retired Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that his ministry had sent a letter to the foreign ministry, urging it to contact India for聽 Hasina鈥檚 extradition.
Talking to reporters at an event in the city, he said that there was no bar to the extradition of Hasina as Bangladesh has an extradition treaty with neighbouring India.
Hasina, also the Awami League president, has been staying in India as the mass uprising ousted her 15-year autocratic regime on August 5, leading to the formation of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus on August 8.聽聽
The International Crimes Tribunal on October 21 asked the inspector general of police to execute warrants for the arrest of Hasina and 22 of her aides it issued in two cases on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the student-people uprising.
The tribunal issued the arrest warrants on October 17 after the chief prosecutor filed two separate petitions鈥攐ne against Hasina and the other targeting Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and other former government officials.
Since her ouster as prime minister and fleeing to India in the face of the mass uprising on August 5, at least 50 cases have been filed with the tribunal against Hasina and her associates mainly for murders, tortures聽 and enforced disappearances.
Besides, more than 200 cases, mostly on murder charges, have been filed against Hasina after the fall of her authoritarian regime.
She has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity cases in ICT cases for reported incidents of murders, attempted murders, abduction, torture and enforced disappearance.
On December 21, the Mass Uprising Special Cell, established under the health services division in October, published the first draft of 858 martyred and 11,551 injured in the student-people uprising.
