Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Thursday said that the government has been working to bring Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of BNP who is now in London, back to Bangladesh under the Extradition Treaty to be signed between Bangladesh and the UK.
“The Foreign Ministry has been working to finalise the matter of signing the Extradition Treaty to be signed between the two countries. After finalization of the conditions, the matter of signing process could be known. Once the deal is signed, the matter of bringing Tarique back would come as the highest priority. But, the matter is still under discussion,” the minister said while briefing media on Thursday in his ministry conference room at the Secretariat.
Earlier, the minister presided over the meeting on law and order situation to discuss the preparation of law enforcement agencies over the upcoming Durja Puja, the largest festival of Hindu community.
Regarding the legal steps and punishment against Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Harunur Rashid over his involvement in torturing three Chhatra League leaders, Kamal said, “Some steps have already been taken. Now probe, on the incident, is going on. Departmental actions would be taken once the probe report is received. Legal steps would be taken, if the victims file cases.”
In response to a query about transferring the National ID Services to the Home Ministry from the Election Commission, the minister said, “It would take some more time. The law has just passed in the Parliament. Time will be needed. Necessary work on the matter is going.”
“Until completion of the procedures to transfer the issue to the Home Ministry, the work will resume as it was running before enacting the law. The new NIDs would be given in accordance with the existing system and the correction of the NIDs would also be given in the similar way. Those who were doing the works before enacting the law will continue working,” he assured.
He also informed that when the ministry will start the full fledged work of NID, it would be informed with official announcement. “It cannot be said now that whether it would be possible to start by this year or not. Decision would be taken after sitting together.”
Regarding the preparation of Durga Puja this year, Kamal said that this year Puja would be held at 32,407 temples and mandaps across the country from October 21 to 24. The number of mandaps could be increased like the previous years. “But, we have requested the Hindu community leaders to keep the number of mandaps within the limit like in the previous years so that necessary security measures could be ensured.”
They have also assured us not to increase the number.
On last year, the Durga Puja was held at 32,168 mandaps. Increasing the number by 239, the number has increased to 32,407 this year, he informed, adding that some 2,00,000 Ansar Bahini members would be deployed in the mandaps along with other law enforcement agency members. All mandap authorities will also deploy additional volunteers for the own security.
