The politics of extradition
QUESTION: With Nur Hossain along with three accomplices in Indian custody, and India-Bangladesh extradition treaty in effect, what would be the most interesting outcome to watch?
Answer: The politics behind the extradition process. Will India use Hossain's extradition as a bargaining tool or not? Well there is enough reason to think along this line. Though the extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India came into effect late last year with handing over of the instruments of ratification, there was a condition specified. According to the Hindu's news report of October 24, 2013, the treaty will allow exchange of convicts sentenced for more than a year in prison but will not be applicable to political prisoners and asylum seekers. Both sides have the option to cancel the treaty with a six-month notice.
Even if we take that neither of the countries will cancel the treaty prior to a six months notice any time soon, how can we be sure that Hossain will not seek political asylum and not be granted one? Moreover, if the option of seeking asylum is applicable to him? The provision for seeking asylum or not. Coupled with this comes the condition of timeframe of a prisoner. Anyone who is sentenced for more than a year in prison will fall under the category of extradition. But what if Hossain is sentenced for less than a year and then released?
This skeptic's mind races back to the arrest of ULFA General Secretary Anup Chetia in 1997, and back then we did not have an extradition treaty with India but now we do. The point in this regard is that in spite of an existing treaty he has not been handed over to the Indian authorities as yet, and we don't know why. After the Barasat court placed Nur Hossain on an eight-day remand in police custody last week our expectation for extraditing him mounted in the midst of conflicting statements concerning details of his arrest by the state minister and Awami League general secretary. Are we to believe that the members of the ruling party are divided on the issue of Nur Hossain's extradition? Or if some of the ruling party members are too busy to follow media reports on Hossain's arrest?
Given the facts of the extradition process the top brass of our police still believes that if a negotiation at a higher level -- probably between the two prime ministers -- takes place, and a mutual decision is reached beyond the predetermined conditions of the extradition treaty, then it won't be difficult to extradite Noor Hossain to Bangladesh.
However, with Modi in power -- devoted to deter all 'Bangladeshi infiltration' into India -- we expect somehow the criminal Nur Hossain to be handed over to Bangladesh. Besides being a criminal, Nur Hossain is also an infiltrator from Bangladesh who is not supposed to have any place -- at least in Modi's India.
The writer is Current Affairs Analyst, The Daily Star.
E-mail: [email protected]
Comments