Is clock ticking on Hasina’s India stay after Bangladesh revokes her diplomatic passport?

NEW DELHI: Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has spent almost three weeks in India following her ouster in the face of a student-led uprising against her government. While speculations regarding the former prime minister’s next step are rife, Bangladesh’s interim government revoking Hasina’s diplomatic passport may have set a clock ticking on her stay in India.

The security services division of the country’s home affairs ministry announced that the diplomatic passport of Sheikh Hasina, her advisors, ex-cabinet members, and all members of the recently dissolved 12th Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament), along with their spouses, would be revoked with immediate effect.The move follows the dissolution of Parliament by President Mohammed Shahabuddin in August, shortly after Hasina, 76, was forced to resign and leave the country.The revocation of these passports also extends to diplomatic officials whose tenures have ended, with the possibility of ordinary passports being issued only after clearance from at least two investigating agencies.

Sheikh Hasina, according to government sources, holds no other passport besides the now-revoked diplomatic one, reported The Daily Star newspaper. Under Indian visa policy, Bangladeshi citizens holding diplomatic or official passports are eligible for visa-free entry and can stay in the country for up to 45 days. As of Saturday, Hasina has already spent 20 days in India, with the clock ticking on her legal stay.The cancellation of her diplomatic passport and its associated visa privileges could lead to the risk of extradition to Bangladesh, where she faces 51 cases, including 42 for murder.The extradition of Hasina would fall under the legal framework of the 2013 extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India, which was amended in 2016. While the treaty allows for the refusal of extradition if the charges are of a political nature, it explicitly excludes crimes such as murder from being considered political. However, one of the grounds for refusal of extradition is if the charges being pressed have not been “made in good faith, in the interest of justice”, the state-run BSS news agency reported.