Sheikh Hasina will be brought back under the extradition treaty, not with a passport: State Minister Humayun Kabir

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir has said that ousted and fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina will not be given any passport or travel pass. He made clear that bringing her back from India will be done only through the existing bilateral extradition treaty.

The state minister made the remarks to journalists on Thursday (5 November) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after seeing off a visiting Chinese delegation led by Liu Haixing, minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Committee.

He said there is an extradition treaty with India for catching terrorists and criminals. No passport is needed to bring back a terrorist or a criminal; it is a matter of handing them over, he said.

The state minister said Sheikh Hasina is a fugitive person. She is not someone visiting her in-laws' home in Rangpur, for whom a passport would be issued so that she could travel here, he said.

Humayun Kabir said there is no legal obligation to issue an ordinary passport or travel document to bring back a fugitive accused of grave crimes, because the legal framework for bringing her back already exists in the extradition arrangement.

Referring to the legal process, the state minister said a court warrant and the procedure laid down under the Bangladesh-India extradition treaty are enough to bring Sheikh Hasina back. There is a court warrant, there is a specific judicial process and there is also the extradition treaty; so there is no need or obligation to issue a passport, he said.

Humayun Kabir said Sheikh Hasina is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people before she fled the country. He asked whether a person who fled the country after killing thousands of people should be treated as an ordinary traveller and given a passport.

Reiterating Dhaka's position, he said Bangladesh wants the Indian authorities to formally hand Hasina over; her return through an ordinary travel process is not desirable. 'We are demanding her handover. She should be handed over,' he said.

The state minister said the existing extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India provides the legal basis for requesting the handover of persons accused or convicted of grave crimes. Bangladesh will try to bring Hasina back through the judicial and diplomatic process established under this treaty, he stressed.

In reply to a question about the proposed Bangladesh-China-Myanmar economic corridor, Humayun Kabir said Dhaka sees no geopolitical complication in this initiative; rather, it could transform the region into a major trade and connectivity hub. Bangladesh is interested in taking part in the proposed regional corridor, he said.

However, he stressed that a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis is needed before this corridor is implemented. He also expressed hope that Liu Haixing's visit would further strengthen Bangladesh-China relations, especially in political, economic and strategic cooperation.