NEW DELHI, Dec 21 � Fresh complications have arisen with regard to the extradition of ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia from Bangladesh in the wake of a request made by the newly-appointed chairman of the anti-talk faction of the ULFA, Dr Abhijit Barman alias Dr Abhijit Asom, to Dhaka not to hand over Chetia to India.
The development comes close on the heels of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde�s disclosure that Chetia may not be keen to return to India as he has filed a fresh petition in a Dhaka court. He quoted his Bangladeshi counterpart, Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, as having revealed this when they had met for the inauguration of an integrated checkpost along the India-Bangladesh border.
Highly-placed sources said that it has been made known to India that the anti-talk faction of the ULFA has been pressing the Bangladesh Government not to accede to India�s request. A letter written by Dr Abhijit Asom, a copy of which is available with Indian agencies, has requested the Awami League Government in Bangladesh not to act in a hurry. Almost simultaneously, Chetia�s lawyers filed a petition in the court, keeping his request for political asylum alive, added the sources.
The sources said that the letter, addressed to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, gives an account of the ULFA�s �struggle� to gain freedom from India. Describing Chetia as a freedom fighter, Dr Abhijit Asom said that his life could be in danger if he was handed over to India, given the charges pending against him in Indian courts.
