Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday sought a new passport and national identity card from the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi to facilitate her planned return home from self-exile in India in December.
She has insisted in several recent interviews, including with HT, that she intends to return to Bangladesh in December despite being sentenced to death over her government’s crackdown on protesters. There was no immediate word on the development from officials of the Bangladesh high commission or India’s external affairs ministry. “If you have a passport, you can choose to enter via a land border crossing. If it’s an airport, the aircraft and the facility can be secured and the person taken away quickly. Her return can galvanise party workers at a time when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government is under pressure over a cost of living crisis, an economic downturn and accusations of corruption.
Hasina, 79, has lived in India since her government was ousted in a student-led uprising in August 2024. Earlier reporting noted: Sheikh Hasina seeks new passport, ID card to return to Bangladesh after 2 years of exile in India Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested on Monday a new passport and identity card so she can return from self-imposed exile in India, according to a letter seen by Reuters, her first such communication since fleeing in 2024. Hasina’s move appeared aimed at drawing a distinction between her plan to return to Bangladesh of her own volition and Dhaka’s repeated calls for New Delhi to extradite her so that she can face charges at home, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
“In view of the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID) by the Interim Government and other authorities, I respectfully request that you take the necessary steps to issue a new Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card for our client,” Hasina’s lawyers at Matrix Chambers in London wrote to Preeti Rahman, the acting high commissioner at the Bangladeshi mission. “Our request is made on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality in accordance with any obligations arising under the laws of Bangladesh as well as any applicable obligations arising under international human rights instruments,” the letter said. It asked the mission to provide details of necessary formalities and documentation “required to expeditiously process the applications”. They said the proposal to seek a new passport had been in the pipeline for some time. Possession of a passport will also allow Hasina to have a greater say in the method of her return, the people said. It will be much tougher to do that at a land border crossing,” a person said. The people said Hasina’s planned return is also aimed at ensuring that the Awami League, which is currently banned and whose members have faced a sweeping crackdown, remains a force in Bangladesh’s politics.
Bangladesh ‘s war-crimes court sentenced her to death in November last year in her absence for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising, though she has denied the charges from exile. Earlier reporting noted: She has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court, and her aides said on Monday the date would be announced once various formalities were completed.
