Sheikh Hasina seeks new passport, identity card to return to Bangladesh

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought a new passport on Monday even as she weighs her return after two years in exile in India, Associated Press reported.

This comes after the exiled leader said she will return to Bangladesh, calling it part of her “struggle to bring back democracy, rule of law and voting rights in the country”.

The fresh revelations were made in a letter, in which Hasina requested a new passport and identity card so she can return from self-imposed exile in India. This was her first communication since she fled Bangladesh for Delhi on August 5, 2024.

The Bangladesh government has been seeking her extradition from India and earlier dismissed suggestions she needed new identification documents to return home.

Hasina has said she plans to return to surrender before a court. The date of her return is yet to be announced even as her aides have said that the schedule would be announced once various formalities were completed.

Bangladesh’s war-crimes court has earlier sentenced the former PM to death for ordering a crackdown on the students protesters.