Students of geography may know this, but the vast majority of Indians probably don’t know which country India shares its longest border with. It’s not Pakistan, China or even Nepal. It’s actually Bangladesh, with which India shares an about 4100-kilometre border. Most of India’s northeast is ‘Bangladesh-locked’, a fact that underscores the importance of the two to each other.
During the regime of Begum Khaleda Zia (Oct. 2001 to Oct. 2006), Indo-Bangla relations plummeted, before going from strength to strength following the return to power of Sheikh Hasina. Prime Minister Hasina has also during her time in office been doing her utmost to try and track down the killers of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the father of the nation, who was killed more than three and a half decades ago. The six fugitive killers were sentenced to death and between them have been moving between as many as 17 countries, including India.
Lt Col (retd) M Rashed Chowdhury, for example, has moved from the US to Canada, Germany, Thailand and Libya to evade detection, according to Bangladesh’s Bengali daily Janakantha. Lt Col SHMB Noor Chowdhury continues to shuttle between Canada and Pakistan, reports suggest, while Risaldar Moslemuddin keeps changing locations in India and Pakistan. He’s not the only one that has apparently taken a liking to this country–Capt (retd) Abdul Majed has chosen India and Pakistan in which to hide and is said to be changing location with rapid frequency.
Interpol has issued an alert over the fugitives in all 17 countries.