Photo: Collected
India has extended the visa of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been there since last August, people familiar with the matter said. The extension comes against the backdrop of growing calls in Bangladesh for her extradition.
Hasina, 77, fled to India after stepping down amid nationwide protests. She has been incommunicado since she arrived at Hindon airbase on 5 August, though it is learnt that she has been moved to a safehouse in Delhi. The interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus sought her extradition through a note verbale, or unsigned diplomatic correspondence, sent to the Indian external affairs ministry on 23 December.
The former premier's visa was recently extended to facilitate her stay in the country, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. They dismissed speculation about Hasina being granted asylum in the country by pointing out that India doesn't have a specific law for dealing with refugees and matters such as asylum.
The move to extend the visa involved the Union home ministry, which has to sign off on such matters, and was done through the local Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), the people said without providing details.
HT reported on 3 January that the Indian government is unlikely to respond to Bangladesh's request to extradite Hasina, with people familiar with developments saying that Dhaka hasn't completed key formalities necessary to take forward such an issue.
On Tuesday evening, a Bangladeshi official in Dhaka announced the Department of Immigration and Passports' decision to cancel the passports of 97 people, including Hasina, for their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances and killings during protests in July.
"The passports department cancelled passports of 22 people involved in enforced disappearances, while passports of 75 people, including Sheikh Hasina, were revoked due to their involvement in the July killings," Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, a spokesperson for the chief adviser, told a media briefing, according to state-run BSS news agency.
These actions are being seen in New Delhi as efforts by some elements in Bangladesh's interim government to keep up pressure on the Indian side for Hasina's extradition.
Days after Hasina arrived in India, her US-based son Sajeeb Wazed Joy dismissed reports that her visa had been revoked and that she had sought asylum in India. "No one has revoked her visa. She has not applied for political asylum anywhere. Those are all rumours," he told ANI news agency on August 9 last year.
However, the UK government effectively blocked any possible asylum request on the grounds that the country's Immigration Rules do not allow a person to apply for asylum from outside Britain. Some reports have also suggested that Hasina's US visa has been revoked.
The Indian external affairs ministry, which has acknowledged the receipt of Bangladesh's extradition but declined to comment on the matter, has also said in the past that it is up to Hasina to decide her future plans.
"As far as former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is concerned, we don't have an update on her plans. It is for her to take things forward," ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a media briefing last year.
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