Hasina seeks fresh passport and ID ahead of planned December return

• Sheikh Hasina has requested a fresh Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card ahead of her planned return in December, the Awami League said

• Her lawyers have approached the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, citing her nationality and right to return

• Dhaka has sought her handover under the India–Bangladesh extradition treaty, saying her return does not depend on new travel documents

Former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has applied for a fresh passport and national identity card as she prepares for a planned return to the country in December, her Awami League party said on Monday.

The party said her legal representatives at London-based Matrix Chambers had approached the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, requesting that the documents be issued promptly.

The application cited Hasina’s Bangladeshi citizenship and the country’s obligations under international human rights instruments, according to the party. It follows reports that the previous interim administration, led by Muhammad Yunus, had revoked her existing documents.

Hasina has reiterated her intention to return and face the legal proceedings against her, the Awami League said. She has been living in India since her government collapsed in August 2024.

The party presented the application as a step towards implementing that decision. In its statement, it emphasised her ties to Bangladesh as the daughter of the country’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and described returning home as a fundamental right.

Bangladesh’s government, however, has framed her return as a matter of extradition rather than travel documentation.

Last week, state minister for foreign affairs Humaiun Kobir said Dhaka wanted India to hand Hasina over under the extradition treaty between the two countries.

According to The Daily Star, Kobir described her as a fugitive and said a judicial process was already in place. He dismissed suggestions that issuing a passport was necessary to facilitate her return.

The differing positions leave the circumstances of any December return unresolved: the Awami League has outlined Hasina’s intention to go back, while Dhaka has called for her formal handover.

Speaking virtually at a Washington-based press conference in October, Hasina said the prospect of arrest, torture or death would not deter her. She said she could not remain abroad while her supporters and other Bangladeshis continued to suffer.

“How risky it is, I don’t care. I have to go back,” she said.

Hasina also thanked the Indian government, political parties and the public for providing refuge during the upheaval. She compared their reception to the support she received after the assassination of several members of her family in 1975, which she and her sister survived.

With IANS inputs