Dhaka [Bangladesh], January 1 (ANI): Abdul Awal Mintoo, Vice-Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Former President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, while speaking about the extradition of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that while Bangladeshi government has the right to ask India for Hasina’s extradition, Hasina too has the right to fight for her right in an Indian Court.
Mintoo told ANI that Hasina is entitled to fair judgement through due process of law.
“This is a highly political issue,” Mintoo said, when asked about the current status and if there is any problem in the extradition process.
Mintoo further explained that as Hasina is living in a democratic country, i.e. India, she has the right to fight against the extradition request in an Indian court. In such an event, the court’s decision shall prevail. However, the situation is tangled as in such cases, even international laws get involved.
“But then as a democratic country, because she is staying in India right now, or in any other country, she has also own right to go to the court in that country. So the court of that country will decide ultimately that what will be the process of our return to Bangladesh. It is not that easy, because the international law is involved, international humanitarian laws is involved,” he said.
“There are three issues involved here. One is our demand, which we are entitled to demand, because if a country’s judicial system thinks that anyone has done a crime, whether it be a Prime Minister or not, and if he or she is residing in India, we have a right to demand that she should be repatriated to Bangladesh,” Mintoo said.
He said that under the repatriation treaty between the two countries, Bangladesh exercised their right to ask for repatriation.
“India and Bangladesh has a repatriation treaty. So under that treaty we have additional right to demand. Now Bangladesh government already demanded her return to Bangladesh,” he said.
Mintoo said that every Bangladeshi has the right to a fair trial, which must be upheld.
“It is the right of every Bangladeshi citizen to have a fair trial. If the trial is not fair, judgment will not be fair either. If judgment is not fair, that is not considered to be a fair in any respect. So that’s why I am saying that we have a right to ask for extradition. She has a right to go to Indian court to defend herself. Why she should not be extradited? It all depends on how the treaty is being treated by the Indian court at this point,” he said.
On December 23, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that it received a Note Verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission in connection with an extradition request of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. However, it offered no comments on this matter.
“We confirm that we have received a Note Verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission today in connection with an extradition request. At this time, we have no comment to offer on this matter, ” said the spokesperson of the MEA. (ANI)
