Pact with Dhaka to help India curb NE insurgency

NEW DELHI: In what will help India secure the custody of top northeast insurgent leaders hiding in Bangladesh, and sentenced prisoners like Anup Chetia, New Delhi has finalised three key agreements with Bangladesh, including the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and Agreement on Transfer of Prisoners (ATP). MLAT draft, ATP and International Co-operation on Terrorism were given the go-ahead during the ongoing home-secretary level talks here and are expected to be formally signed when Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina comes visiting next month.

Union home secretary G K Pillai and his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdus Sabhan Sikder began their three-day talks here on a good note by clinching the three important bilateral pacts. While MLAT will help India or Bangladesh seek the extradition of fugitives wanted for crimes committed by them in each other’s territory, the Agreement on Transfer of Prisoners will allow the two neighbours to exchange sentenced prisoners so as to let them serve their respective prison terms in their home country.

The pact relating to international co-operation on terrorism is also significant, given the deep linkages between terror acts in India and Bangladesh-based terror outfits such as Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (Huji). Huji, which is connected well to groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and even Al Qaeda, has been instrumental in several terror attacks here, including the Varanasi serial blasts, attack on the American Centre in Kolkata and the shootout at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The name of a top Huji commander, Ilyas Kashmiri, has also emerged in the Headley-Rana case. Kashmiri is described by FBI as Headley’s key Pakistan-based handler.

The finalisation of the three bilateral pacts for co-operation in criminal matters, legal assistance and terror only confirms Bangladeshi regime’s growing appreciation of India’s security concerns and its growing willingness to act against insurgents and terror elements operating from its territory.