India on Tuesday refused to be drawn on the issue of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking a passport from the Bangladesh high commission to facilitate her return home next month, with the external affairs ministry only saying that such travel plans will require a “travel document”.
The request was swiftly dismissed by Bangladesh’s deputy foreign minister Humaiun Kobir, who reiterated Dhaka’s demand for her extradition. External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal declined to comment when he was asked about Hasina seeking a passport from Bangladeshi authorities at a regular media briefing. “The question that you asked is essentially a question that you must pose to the Bangladesh high commission. Her presence in India has emerged as a key irritant in relations between New Delhi and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government in Dhaka. Bangladeshi officials have also urged the Indian side not to allow her to air her political views from Indian soil. Rahman himself lived in self-imposed exile in London when Hasina was in power.
Hasina, who has lived in self-exile in India since her government was toppled in a student-led uprising in August 2024, approached the Bangladesh mission in New Delhi on Monday to seek a passport and a national identity card ahead of her planned return home in December. Earlier reporting noted: Why Sheikh Hasina’s plan to return to Bangladesh is contentious Bangladesh swiftly rejected this week a request for a new passport from deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 78, who plans to return home in December from self-imposed exile in India.
This is a matter which they would be in a better position to convey to you, what is the sense they have on this particular issue,” he said.
Earlier reporting noted: A ban since her government’s fall kept Hasina’s Awami League party from competing in the last general election in February, bringing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to power. Earlier reporting noted: Tarique Rahman, the son of Hasina’s biggest political rival Khaleda Zia, is now prime minister.
Hasina was sentenced to death by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in 2025 for crimes against humanity on the ground that she was responsible for ordering a crackdown on student-led protests that left hundreds dead and thousands injured. Hasina denies any wrongdoing and has rejected the tribunal’s verdict and challenged the legitimacy of her trial.
The former PM has said in several recent interviews that she intends to return home next month despite facing the possibility of arrest.
