Govt focuses on fugitives

The government will make fresh diplomatic efforts soon to have six of the 12 condemned killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mijubur Rahman extradited or deported back home, to bring them to justice.
As part of the efforts, Dhaka will soon write to governments of all countries seeking their help in bringing the absconding killers back.
The fresh move is being made as the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court verdict confirming death sentences of 12 retired or dismissed army men in Bangabandhu assassination case.
"Earlier we had sent such letters and now, after the apex court's verdict, we'll again send letters to all countries asking for their help in bringing back the absconding killers," Home Minister Sahara Khatun told The Daily Star yesterday.
Contacted, she said they will take all measures to bring them (killers) back, and they are hopeful of success in doing this.
Asked whether they have spotted where the killers are absconding, the home minister said they frequently move from one country to another, and that is the only problem in locating them.
The home minister had earlier made a global appeal to help track down the fugitive killers of Bangabandhu. The appeal was made at the 78th annual general meeting of Interpol in Singapore last month.
Meanwhile, six of the 12 convicted killers of Bangabandhu have been holed up in Libya, US, Canada, Pakistan and Kenya, one died in Zimbabwe, and five are behind bars at home.
Sources in the administration and intelligence agencies said some of the condemned killers on the run travel to different countries for business purposes.
The six hiding abroad are Lt Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col (retd) Nur Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risalder Moslehuddin Khan.
Sources say Rashid, one of the key plotters of the massacre of Bangabandhu and most of his family members, has settled in Benghazi of Libya, where he has construction business. He often visits Pakistan and Singapore.
Dalim lives in Pakistan, and frequently travels to Libya and Kenyan capital Nairobi where he has businesses.
According to intelligence sources, Nur Chowdhury and Rashed Chowdhury are in Canada and the US. But other sources said Nur is living in Libya, and seeking asylum in Canada. And Rashed is trying for asylum in the US.
Abdul Mazed is hiding in Benghazi, while Moslehuddin might be in the Libyan city, or somewhere in Bangladesh.
Another convict, Lt Col Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe on June 2, 2001.
Awami League, after coming to power in 1996 initiated moves to sign extradition treaties with different countries to bring back the condemned convicts.
The five on the death row-- now in jail -- are Lt Col Syed Farooq Rahman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col Mohiuddin Ahmed, Maj Mohiuddin Ahmed and Maj Bazlul Huda.
Of them, Lt Col Mohiuddin was deported to Bangladesh from Los Angeles on June 17, 2007, after a US court rejected his appeal for residency.
Huda was extradited from Bangkok on the day the trial court pronounced its verdict in the case in 1998.
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