Bangladesh’s interim government on Thursday (August 22) revoked the diplomatic passport of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina who fled to India after massive protests across the country earlier this month.
The move to cancel Sheikh Hasina’s documents leaves her in potential limbo, and comes on the same day that a United Nations team arrived in Dhaka to assess whether to investigate alleged human rights violations, said an AFP report.
In a statement, the Bangladesh’s Interior Ministry said that Hasina’s passport and those belonging to former ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts “have to be revoked”.
“The former prime minister, her advisers, the former cabinet and all members of the dissolved national assembly were eligible for diplomatic passports by virtue of the positions they held,” Dhaka’s home ministry said in a statement.
“If they have been removed or retired from their posts, their and their spouses’ diplomatic passports have to be revoked.”
The Interior Ministry’s move also poses a diplomatic dilemma for India. While India is hosting Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also offered his support to the new Bangladeshi leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the caretaker administration.
The interim government said that Sheikh Hasina, and other former top officials during her tenure, could apply for a standard passport, but that those documents were contingent on approval.
“When the aforementioned people apply afresh for ordinary passports, two security agencies have to clear their application for their passports to be issued,” the ministry added.
Sheikh Hasina’s government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.
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