Indo-Bangla extradition treaty soon

ULFA general secretary likely to be handed over to New Delhi at the earliest

Chetia has served his sentence in a jail in Dhaka since his arrest there in 1997 on the charge of entering the country without valid documents.

The neighbours said there would be zero tolerance towards terror activities.

India also assured Bangladesh of extending all possible cooperation to track down the killers of the Father of Nation of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also father of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“The draft (extradition treaty) has been shared and we are going through it,” India’s Home Secretary R K Singh said at a joint press conference with his Bangladesh counterpart Monzur Hossain, at the end of two-day Home Secretary level talks between the two countries.

A joint statement issued after the talks said the two countries agreed to put into operation Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), transfer of sentenced persons and an Agreement on Combating Organised Crime and Illegal Drug Trafficking.

Asked about the possible deportation of Anup Chetia, Hossain said that some legal issues had hampered it. However, he hoped that the matter would be resolved soon and the ULFA general secretary would be handed over to India “at the earliest.”

Joint statement

The joint statement said the Home Secretaries reaffirmed “their commitment not to allow the territory of either country to be used for any activity inimical to each other’s interests.” India appreciated the cooperation extended by Bangladesh to prevent smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) into India.

Both sides agreed to develop mechanisms to 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 agreed to provide consular access for this purpose