Chadha May Be Extradited As India, Uae Agree On Treaty
The extradition of Win Chadha and Amirbhai, who are wanted in connection with the Bofors and hawala cases respectively, may be expedited with India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreeing on the speedy conclusion of an extradition treaty.
A consensus to finalise the proposed treaty at the earliest possible date emerged at a meeting between Indian external affairs minister I K Gujral and the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al Nahyan here on Sunday.
Gujral also called on the UAE deputy prime minister and handed over two letters for the UAE President from the Indian President, Shanker Dayal Sharma and Prime Minister, H D Deve Gowda.
It has been tentatively decided to hold the next meeting of the Indo-UAE joint commission in New Delhi in the third week of May. The commission has not met in the last two years. The UAE also accepted an invitation to attend the non-aligned countries foreign ministers meeting, scheduled to be held in New Delhi in April.
Gujral also sought the UAEs assistance in persuading the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to have a direct dialogue with India as well as with the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). Saarc has already opened a similar dialogue with the Association of South-East Asian Nations and the EU.
India has already written to the GCC general secretary, Jamil al Hujailan in this regard, Gujral told reporters.
The Indian minister conveyed appreciation of the way the UAE was taking care of the large Indian expatriate community and briefed Sheikh Hamdan on Indias initiatives to improve relations with its neighbours like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
He also said that India had taken note of the positive statements on bilateral ties by the newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. Gujral also briefed his UAE counterpart on the details of the trilateral trade and transit agreement that India signed recently with Iran and Turkmenistan in Tehran.