Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina did not herself apply for a new passport or national identity card (NID), the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi has said. An email came to the mission from a firm called Matrix Chambers, asking that a passport and NID be issued in Sheikh Hasina’s name.
Saidur Rahman, press minister at the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi, confirmed this. “Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in the student-led mass uprising, did not apply for a new passport or NID,” he said.
He said an email had arrived from a firm called Matrix Chambers. “That email requested that a passport and NID be issued in Sheikh Hasina’s name. There is no way to tell that this request was made on Sheikh Hasina’s behalf,” he said.
The email sent by the law firm carried no document or proof of authorisation from Sheikh Hasina, press minister Saidur Rahman said.
Reuters reported on Monday that Sheikh Hasina’s lawyer had written to the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi asking for a new Bangladeshi passport and NID to be issued to the former prime minister. UK-based barrister Steven Powles KC sent the letter on Monday (9 November) to Priti Rahman, Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner in New Delhi.
The home minister and the state minister for foreign affairs spoke about the matter on Monday. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said reports that Sheikh Hasina had applied to the Delhi mission to get back her passport and NID had not yet been verified.
The foreign ministry and the law ministry are looking into the matter, the home minister said. The relevant laws will be reviewed to see whether there is a legal basis for the application and whether she has the right to apply, he said.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir said no ordinary passport application would take effect in the case of fugitive criminals. “Sheikh Hasina will be brought back to the country through legal and diplomatic processes, under an extradition treaty, and made to face trial,” he said. “Bangladesh does not give passports to terrorists,” he added.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report