DHAKA: Bangladesh government will seek support from India for repatriation of eight people including seven top criminals and BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed, all of whom are held in India.
Bangladesh will ask for the repatriation at an India-Bangladesh home secretary-level meeting, slated to be held on 16 November in Dhaka.
Senior secretary for home affairs Md Mozammel Haque Khan will lead the Bangladesh side while the Indian delegation will be led by Indian home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi for the meeting, to be held on 16 November.
Indian officials would discuss with their Bangladesh counterparts the issues of border killings of Bangladeshis, smuggling of cattle and drugs, cross-border movement of terrorists, the progress of the repatriation from the enclaves to mainland India and illegal immigration from Bangladesh, among other issues.
According to the Bangladesh home ministry, the persons, who will be requested to be repatriated, are Subrata Bain, Molla Masud, Sajjad Hossain, Wahidur Zaman, Khan Suman and BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed, among others.
Several officials of the home ministry told Prothom Alo that they had sent a number of letters to Indian government asking repatriation of the top criminals and Salahuddin Ahmed.
However, India is yet to respond positively over the repatriation request from Bangladesh.
A day after Ulfa leader Anup Chetia was handed over to the Indian government, Nur Hossain, the prime accused of Narayanganj seven-murder case, was brought back from India on Thursday night.
Sajjad Hossain Khan, a Bangladeshi fugitive convicted of murdering eight people in Chittagong, was arrested in India in 2012. But Sajjad is yet to be brought back to Bangladesh.
Home ministry sources said Sajjad was freed on bail from Indian jail and he, even managed to obtain a passport of UAE.
Subrata Bain, another top terror, is yet to be deported from India despite sending several letters from the government of Bangladesh to India. The Indian government is yet to answer the request. The repatriation of most wanted criminal Molla Masud is also stuck in the hands of Indian authorities.
