Two Bangladeshi diplomats serving at the High Commission in India have been asked to leave before the end of their contract, days after ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s diplomatic passport was revoked.
According to a report by India Today, the two diplomats – first secretaries (press) Shaban Mahmud and Ranjan Sen – were relieved of their duties by the caretaker government in Bangladesh, headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, as per an order that came into effect on August 17.
The report said Mahmud was asked to leave from the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi while Sen was asked to relinquish his position at the Bangladeshi consulate in Kolkata. They were relieved of their charges on August 24.
Sen, whose contract was set to end on 2026, was reappointed by the Sheikh Hasina-led government and may take some time to return to Dhaka, the report said. Earlier this month, India asked its “non-essential” staff and families of diplomats at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to return.
Hasina is now facing the possibility of extradition after her diplomatic passport was revoked by the caretaker government in the neighbouring country. The move to cancel these documents leaves her in potential limbo and poses a diplomatic dilemma for India, where she has been for almost three weeks.
The interior ministry said in a statement that Hasina’s passport and those belonging to former government ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts “have to be revoked”. “The former prime minister, her advisers, the former cabinet and all members of the dissolved national assembly were eligible for diplomatic passports by virtue of the positions they held,” Dhaka’s home ministry said in a statement.
“If they have been removed or retired from their posts, their and their spouses’ diplomatic passports have to be revoked,” it said.
Dhaka’s new authorities said Hasina and other former top officials during her tenure could apply for a standard passport, but that those documents were contingent on approval. “When the aforementioned people apply afresh for ordinary passports, two security agencies have to clear their application for their passports to be issued,” the ministry added.
Hasina came to India after being forced to resign on August 5, as a result of a widespread agitation against the quota system in government jobs. The protests before her ouster as well as the violence and anarchy after have claimed more than 600 lives.
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