Bangladesh’s transitional government to revoke diplomatic passports

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh’s transitional government has decided to cancel all diplomatic passports, including one with which former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took refuge in neighboring India following an August 5 student-led revolution.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has confirmed that diplomatic or red passports that are allocated to government officials, ministers and members of parliament will be revoked.

The decision came as Hasina’s stay in India has created uneasy relations between the two South Asian neighbors.

“We have already directed the Department of Immigration and Passports. An official order will be issued soon,” Md Mashiur Rahman, senior secretary of the Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, told national newspaper Prothom Alo.

As the parliament has been abolished and ministers and lawmakers are no longer in their positions, their red passports will be revoked, he added.

Once the passports are cancelled, ministers and lawmakers will have to return them and apply for ordinary ones. If any of them have criminal cases against them or have been arrested, they will have to go through the legal process to get ordinary passports.

The government could not provide the figure for the number of red passport holders in the country.

According to the Home Affairs Ministry, only those whose tenure in government has ended will have their red passports cancelled.

This would include Prime Minister Hasina, who resigned and fled to India on August 5. The Indian government has not officially said anything about her status there.

According to a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and India, however, diplomatic and official passport holders of both countries can stay for a period of 45 days without a visa.

Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain told reporters in Dhaka last week that his government will decide whether to ask India to extradite Hasina, as so many cases have been filed against her, including for murder and genocide.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, took office on August 8 to lead a transitional administration after Hasina fled to India after coming under pressure from weeks of anti-government protests.

The student-led protests resulted in nearly 650 deaths, according to a UN report.