Dhaka: Bangladesh has written to the country's Home Ministry to bring back ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Towhid Hossain said.
He said this in response to a question from journalists at the Foreign Ministry on Monday (December 23) afternoon.
Tawhid Hossain said, "We have clearly informed India. We have informed her (Sheikh Hasina) that we want her back for the judicial system."
In response to a question from journalists about what the process of seeking her back might be, he said, "Through a note verbale (diplomatic letter) to the Indian government."
Earlier, at a program organized in Peelkhana on Monday, Home Affairs Adviser LT. Gen. (Rtd) Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that a letter has been sent to the Foreign Ministry to take necessary measures to bring back ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said, a letter has been sent to our Foreign Ministry regarding her return. The matter is under process. In response to a question, the Home Affairs Adviser said that there is an extradition agreement with India. According to that agreement, Indian government will be asked to return Sheikh Hasina.
Earlier on December 5, at the weekly briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spokesperson Rafiqul Alam said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not the only 'partner' in the initiative to return Sheikh Hasina. Other ministries are also involved in this matter. The time for us to play our role has not yet come. When the time for us to play our role comes, we will do it.
Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has been in India since she left the post of Prime Minister on August 5 and fled there. Although some of her party's senior leaders have been arrested, most are still in hiding.
The Awami League government formed the International Crimes Tribunal in 2010 to try crimes against humanity in 1971. Now, the interim government has taken the initiative to try the Awami League government's repression of the student-people's movement as 'genocide' and has taken the initiative to try it in this court.
Between July 5 and August 5, many complaints of 'genocide and crimes against humanity' have been submitted to the tribunal's investigation agency and prosecution office across the country during the student-people's movement.