Business Report :
A slew of memoranda of understanding signed with India during the past government, which include a latest one on rail transit, await a review.
Dhaka will also make a move for extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina–staying in India on self-exile and faces numerous cases back at home–if court issues orders.
Foreign Adviser of the interim government Towhid Hossain Sunday made the statements to queries from journalists, amid major developments stemming from change of government.
“If we are asked by the court to take steps to bring her back from India, we shall try our best to make the arrangements, but it is up to India whether they will send her back or not,” the adviser said while talking to reporters at his ministry.
“Though there is an extradition treaty between the two countries, they are supposed to send her back but they have their own legal process,” he notes.
Asked about the status of Hasina in India as Bangladesh government invalidated her passport, the adviser told the reporters to ask the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka about it.
Foreign adviser Mr Hossain said Bangladesh would review the MoUs signed with India during the previous government’s tenure, adding that it is a common practice.
“MoUs are not binding and usually these are being reviewed before inking final agreement. So we will review the MoUs to assess whether the country’s interest was served or not in those MoUs,” he said.
His replies came when asked whether the government would implement the much-talked-about MoU on rail transit signed with India.
Responding to another question about the absence of Indian contractors who were engaged in LoC projects, the adviser said they might be absent as they felt unsafe during the post-movement turmoil.
“We can’t deny that law and order deteriorated for some days, though we have brought back normalcy,” he said, hoping that the contractors would return soon.
The adviser also termed Indian external affairs minister S Jayshankar’s comment ‘positive’.
Mr Jayshankar on Saturday said that India would work with the present government, which has been installed through the August-5th student-mass uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s consecutive one-and-a-half-decade rule.