by Senior Correspondent in bdnews24.com, Apr 27, 2018
Law Minister Anisul Huq has said it will not be difficult to have Tarique Rahman ‘extradited’ even if he gives up his Bangladesh citizenship, but senior BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has dismissed it as a ‘wishful thinking’,
Huq said the discussions were on to have an extradition treaty with the UK government in place.
Mosharraf said Tarique would only come back when the people wanted him to return like a hero. “It (his return) does not depend on Sheikh Hasina’s wish.”
Now acting chairperson of the BNP in the absence of his jailed mother Khaleda Zia, Tarique went to London for treatment in 2008 when a military-backed government was in power. It was widely speculated at the time that the then regime had forced him out of the country.
During his prolonged stay in Britain, he has been convicted in two cases in Bangladesh and sentenced for seven and 10 years respectively.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam stoked the controversy on Apr 23 by making a statement that Tarique had ‘surrendered’ his Bangladeshi passport and so, renounced his nationality. The passport he was carrying expired in 2013.
The BNP protested Shahriar’s comment on the following day, saying Tarique did not give up Bangladeshi nationality; rather he submitted the passport as a process of seeking political asylum in the UK.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the UK Awami League leaders and activists that her government would take back Tarique by any means.
BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf said under the current British law, Tarique could not be sent back as he has been granted political asylum. Musharraf lived in the UK from 1969 to 1973 for higher studies.
No-one in the world can be without a nationality. Tarique surrendered his passport as required by the British law if someone seeks political asylum. It does not mean he has given up his nationality.”
Law Minister Huq, however, agreed that not having a passport does not mean one does not have a nationality. Passport is used as a travel document which is a proof that you are a citizen of a particular country, he added. https://bdnews24.com/politics/2018/04/27/law-minister-bnp-leader-trade-barbs-over-tarique-s-extradition
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