India refrains from commenting on extradition request for ousted Bengladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina
New Delhi/IBNS: India has received a verbal note from Bangladesh in connection with an extradition request for ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, NDTV quoting sources reported.
"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," NDTV quoted the source as saying said.
A note verbale is an unsigned diplomatic message in the third person.
Earlier, in the day, Bangladesh's de facto Foreign Minister Touhid Hossain said Dhaka wants Hasina back to face trial. "We have sent a note verbale to the Indian government saying that Bangladesh wants her back here for the judicial process," Hossain told reporters in Dhaka.
However. India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not commented on the matter.
Hasina, 77, left her country on August 5 following massive protests that toppled her 16-year regime.
The Bangladesh-based International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for against Hasina, her former ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials over "crimes against humanity and genocide".
Bangladesh Home Adviser Jahangir Alam said his office sent a letter to the MEA to allow Hasina's extradition from India.
Hasina, who was the longest-serving PM of the Muslim-majority nation, faced protests over a controversial job quota and soon it spiralled into a massive agitation against her regime.
Hasina had returned to power for another term after winning the general polls in January.
In a virtual address at an event in New York earlier this month, Hasina claimed that there were plans to assassinate her and her sister Sheikh Rehana just like their father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1975.
She made the claims during her first public address after taking shelter in India following her resignation in August.
Referring to the attack on her official residence in Dhaka on August 5, Hasina had said: "The armed protestors were directed towards Ganabhaban. If the security guards opened fire, many lives would have been lost. It was a matter of 25-30 minutes, and I was forced to leave. I told them [guards] not to fire no matter what happened."
"Today, I am being accused of genocide. In reality, Yunus has been involved in genocide in a meticulously designed manner. The masterminds -- the student coordinators and Yunus -- are behind this genocide," she said.
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