Bangladesh’s interim government has stripped former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of her diplomatic passport, following her escape to India by helicopter amid a student-led revolt earlier this month.
This decision declared on Thursday puts Hasina in a precarious situation, coinciding with the arrival of a UN team in Dhaka to evaluate potential human rights abuse investigations, as reported by France24.
A violent crackdown by police claimed over 450 lives in the weeks preceding Hasina’s removal from power, as protesters overran her Dhaka residence, ending her 15-year authoritarian reign.
The interior ministry announced that the passports of Hasina, former ministers, and ex-lawmakers who are no longer in office have been revoked. This move creates a diplomatic quandary for India, which is currently hosting Hasina.
Hasina, who fled to an airbase near India’s capital New Delhi, was a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu-nationalist government preferred her over her rivals from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which it saw as closer to conservative Islamist groups.
Meanwhile, India’s Prime Minister Modi has extended support to Bangladesh’s new leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the interim government, even as India continues to host ousted leader Hasina.
“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.”
Bangladesh’s new administration stated that Hasina and other former high-ranking officials from her tenure can submit applications for regular passports, but the issuance of these documents will be subject to 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.
Hasina’s government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.
