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Bangladesh declines to discuss Chetia case

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Bangladesh has told India it will not be possible to discuss the case relating to the extradition of United Liberation Front of Assam activist Anup Chetia as it is sub-judice, according to senior home ministry officials.

The officials were commenting on reports that Bangladesh was willing to hand over Chetia whose case is pending in a Bangladesh court. Chetia had sought asylum in Bangladesh, but the authorities in Dhaka turned down his request.

Thus, the uncertainty over India's request for the deportation of the ULFA leader continues. While the Government of India's request for Chetia's deportation has not made much headway, the Bangladesh authorities have apparently sought to give their counterparts in India a sop by maintaining that all bank accounts of the outlawed ULFA leader in their Sonali Bank have been frozen. They pointed out that Indian intelligence agencies had estimated that ULFA over the years had extorted Rs 2 billion from Assamese businessmen.

Significantly, the official line given at the end of the two-day fifth joint working group meeting was that is that both sides agreed to continue co-operating on security-related matters However, Janibul Huq, joint secretary of Bangladesh's ministry of home affairs underlined that his country will extend all possible co-operation with India on matters of mutual interest.

Dhaka had significantly dropped the charge under the National Security Act against Chetia who is now being tried only for the violation of the Passport Act and illegal entry into Bangladesh. Dhaka has agreed to release Chetia's photos along with his fingerprints to the Indian government.

It is understood that at the JWG meeting, the Bangladesh side informed its Indian counterpart that it had recently nabbed a top-ranking ultra leader, Jeba Jamatia, of the National Liberation Front of Tripura. Significantly, his deportation has also been linked to the clearance of court cases against the ultra leader in Bangladesh.

The two sides are understood to have discussed among other things, the demarcation of the border, liberalisation of the visa regime and preventing trafficking in women and children.

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