Sheikh Hasina applies for new passport and NID at Delhi embassy

Sheikh Hasina has applied for a new passport and national identity card (NID), according to a Reuters report. According to the letter obtained by the news agency Reuters, this is the first such application from Sheikh Hasina to a Bangladesh embassy since she left the country in 2024.

On Monday (9 November), her lawyers sent a letter on this matter to the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

The letter sent to the embassy says it has come to be known that the interim government after 2024 and the relevant authorities cancelled Sheikh Hasina's previous Bangladeshi passport and national identity card. In this situation, the letter requests that necessary steps be taken to issue a new passport and national identity card on the basis of her Bangladeshi citizenship.

Urging a speedy disposal of the two applications, the letter also mentions Bangladesh's obligations under various international human rights treaties.

Earlier, Sheikh Hasina had told Reuters that she wants to return home and surrender in court. To that end, her associates said on Monday that once the necessary formalities are complete, a specific date for her return will be announced.

The Reuters report says that before Hasina's fall, the Awami League was the country's largest political party. After the ouster, the party's activities were banned. Many of its leaders and workers have been jailed, while many others are in voluntary exile in India and other countries.

Hasina, who served as prime minister for nearly 20 years across different terms, still enjoys the support of a section of the population. As a result, there is concern that her initiative to return may deepen political division further.

After more than two years of unrest, when the government in Dhaka is trying to restore stability, her return may create a new situation.

Notably, in November last year, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Sheikh Hasina to death on charges of ordering a lethal crackdown during the 2024 student-people's uprising.

More than two years after the end of her long rule in the student-people's uprising and after leaving the country, this initiative of hers has raised fears of fresh political and legal tension in the country.