Sheikh Hasina Seeks New Passport in Bid to Return to Bangladesh, Setting Up Clash with Dhaka

Sheikh Hasina News: Ousted Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina has asked Dhaka for a new passport and national identity card, seeking to return from exile in India in December, two years after a student-led uprising removed her from power.

The request was sent to Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi on November 9, reported AP.

What Happened

Hasina’s lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner in New Delhi, Preeti Rahman, asking that a fresh passport and national identity card be issued “expeditiously”, citing her Bangladeshi nationality and international human-rights obligations, Reuters reported.

The letter was emailed to Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi and Hasina’s aide, Abu Obaidha Arin, described it as a significant step toward her homecoming: “This is a significant step toward her homecoming. Having had her documents revoked by the previous regime, Her Excellency looks forward to reclaiming her fundamental rights as a Bangladeshi citizen and receiving the necessary documents,” Arin told the AP. 

The former prime minister has reportedly said she intends to return to Bangladesh in December and surrender before a court. Her aides said on November 9 that a date would be announced once formalities were completed.

Official Response

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is examining the request and will decide after internal consultations, a source in Dhaka told The Hindu. The ministry had not issued a public decision at the time of reporting, and an immediate response was unlikely to be obtained from the Bangladesh government.

This request had also come days after Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said Bangladesh wanted Hasina handed over under the India-Bangladesh extradition treaty, calling her “a terrorist” and “a fugitive.” India has reportedly declined to hand her over.

“We want Hasina to be handed over. She will be handed over. She is a terrorist. She is a fugitive. There is an active extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India,” he said on Thursday (November 5), according to AP, citing reporters in Dhaka.

The State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Humaiun Kobir, on November 5, remarked that Dhaka would seek extradition rather than issue a passport or travel document.

The Bottom Line

The passport request marks the most concrete move yet in Hasina’s stated plan to return, but it also sets up a direct clash with Bangladesh’s current authorities, who have sought her extradition rather than facilitated her return. Her return could reignite political and legal tensions in a country still recovering from the 2024 uprising, while potentially reshaping Dhaka’s strained relationship with New Delhi, India, which gave her refuge after her ouster.

Background

Hasina was ousted on August 5, 2024, after student-led protests against a government job-quota system escalated into a nationwide uprising; Bangladesh’s military then sent her to India. A special tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia in 2025 for crimes against humanity over the crackdown, which AP said left hundreds dead and thousands injured; the United Nations has estimated nearly 1,400 people were killed. Hasina denies wrongdoing, rejects the verdict and has challenged the legitimacy of the trial.

An interim government ruled Bangladesh after her removal and held an election in February, from which her Awami League party was barred; Tarique Rahman came to power in a landslide. Hasina served as prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2009 to 2024, making her Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister.