NEW DELHI: On November 9, the British law firm Matrix, engaged by Sheikh Hasina, submitted an application to the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi seeking a new passport and national identity card for her. Reuters reported the development that same day, almost immediately after it occurred.
The appropriate authority in Bangladesh for issuing a new passport and national identity card is the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the time of writing, the minister’s remarks on behalf of the ministry had been notably measured.
Responding to journalists’ questions, the minister said that, like them, he had learnt of the matter through the media. He would respond after examining its legal aspects.
Those who follow developments in Bangladesh, even to some extent, know how Sheikh Hasina came to be in India. Nevertheless, India’s envoy to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi, recently stated that, amid the circumstances that arose on August 5, 2024, the Bangladesh Army took Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India for her safety.
The Bangladesh Army took her to India in her capacity as prime minister, and when the Bangladesh Air Force aircraft arrived at a military base there, India’s national security adviser, who holds full Cabinet minister rank, received her at the airbase.
Much water, however, has flowed under the bridge in Bangladesh since that incident. After Sheikh Hasina was taken to India for her safety, a government was formed under the “doctrine of necessity”, with Muhammad Yunus as chief adviser. Eighteen months later, that government held an election. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its natural political ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, participated in that election, and the BNP formed the government. Jamaat-e-Islami is now the opposition in Parliament.
An important aspect of this election, and a central issue in Bangladesh’s politics, is that, before the election, the Yunus government banned the activities of Sheikh Hasina’s party, the Bangladesh Awami League, through an executive order. Subsequently, a special court in Bangladesh concluded her trial in her absence, with a state-appointed lawyer representing her, and sentenced her to death.
For a year after she was taken from Bangladesh to India for her safety, Sheikh Hasina did not speak to any registered media outlet. She remained vocal on social media in her exchanges with her party workers. A year later, she gave her first interview to Reuters, offering some indication of her future course of action. Since then, in successive interviews with various media outlets of international standing, and even local Indian media, she has been saying that she will return to Bangladesh by December 2026 and face all legal proceedings in person, accepting whatever situation arises.
The Bangladesh government, too, wants to bring Sheikh Hasina back to the country. Yet, when she applied for a new passport on November 9, the minister for religious affairs offered a prayer to Almighty Allah in Bangladesh’s Parliament. Members of Parliament also joined in that prayer. He prayed that Allah would be merciful to Bangladesh and to them, and would not allow the “fascist” to return to the country.
Since August 5, 2024, a section of Bangladesh’s political spectrum, including the government and the opposition, has described Sheikh Hasina as a “fascist”. The religious affairs minister’s act belongs to the spiritual realm.
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