DHAKA: Dhaka and New Delhi are about to sign an extradition treaty, with Bangladesh reportedly giving final touches to the draft handed over by India.

Bangladesh has one such treaty with Thailand.

Officials in both sides hope that once the treaty is signed, the fugitives who had been evading justice will be handed over to the respective countries.

Bangladesh Law Minister Moudud Ahmed told newsmen that about 5,000 "foreign nationals," including 980 from Myanmar and India were now lodged in different jails. "Some of them have already completed their jail terms but they are not allowed to leave the country due to the absence of an extradition treaty."

Dhaka has also handed over a long list of `wanted criminals' to New Delhi alleging that they have taken refuge in various parts of India to avoid arrest.

India's charge

On its part, India has been alleging that insurgents from the northeast were hiding in Bangladesh and operating from there.

Denying this, Dhaka has pointed out that it has killed a few dozens of `Indian insurgents' in the bordering Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet region by launching major assaults on their hideouts.

India has been seeking extradition of Anup Chetia, a key ULFA leader, and a few top insurgent leaders but Bangladesh has said no to this.

Anup Chetia, arrested in Dhaka by the previous government on charges of illegal stay and possessing forged documents, was released from jail on completion of his term in February 2003.

Call to defuse tension

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan has called for tolerance and patience to defuse tensions on the frontier with India after skirmishes over the last few weeks.

"Political leadership should take necessary steps to reduce the tension," he told the UNB news agency. The Minister said that one or two incidents may happen along the 4,200-km porous border, but "unnecessary tension" should be avoided for good neighbourly relations.

Tension mounted in some bordering areas after the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) traded gunfire at Hakimpur in Chapainawabganj on Thursday.

The BSF sounded an alert and dug bunkers along the Telkupi frontier in Shibganj upazilla of the district. The forces were withdrawn following a company commander-level flag meeting.

Tension escalated along the western Satkhira-Gazipur border on Friday as the border guards exchanged fire. An alert was sounded in all outposts along the border in Tripura to stop possible infiltration of "Indian insurgents" following a crackdown by Bangladesh security forces.

Ten insurgents of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) were killed and arms recovered when the Bangladesh Army and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raided a hideout in Rangamati hill district last Monday. The Indian High Commission issued a statement expressing dismay at what it termed "an attempt by the BDR to provide protection to cattle smugglers while, at the same time, indulging in a disinformation campaign of shifting the blame on to the BSF."

It claimed such actions by the BDR led to the death of a BSF constable. It also viewed with concern `the latest incident of unprovoked firing' by the BDR on a BSF patrol party on the Ichhamati river on June 12. The statement emphasised the need for restraint and professional conduct by the BDR to ensure peace.

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