India Extends Sheikh Hasina’s Visa Amid Extradition Calls From Dhaka

India Extends Sheikh Hasina’s Visa: The visa of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has remained in the country since last August, was extended by New Delhi, India, people familiar with the matter said against the backdrop of rising calls in Dhaka for her extradition.

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Hasina, 77, had escaped to India after resigning from her position against nationwide protests. Since arriving at Hindon airbase on August 5, she has remained out of reach, though it is believed that she has been placed in a safehouse in New Delhi. The interim regime of Dhaka under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus sought her extradition via a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence on December 23 to the external affairs ministry.

The abovementioned informs that the former prime minister's visa was recently extended in order to facilitate her stay in the country. They dismissed speculation about the granting of "asylum" to Hasina in the country because there is no specific refugee law in India, as well as no measures about asylum.

This involved the Union home ministry, which has to sign off these things, and was done through the local Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), the people said without giving further contact details.

In an earlier news item that HT ran on January 3, it was reported that the Indian government is unlikely to respond to Bangladesh's request to extradicate Hasina, given that such an issue has not been able to advance due to Dhaka not completing key formalities.

A Bangladeshi official in Dhaka announced, on Tuesday evening, the decision by the Department of Immigration and Passports to cancel the passports of 97 individuals, including Hasina, based on allegations of enforced disappearances and killings during protests in July.

Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, a spokesperson for Yunus, told a media briefing, according to state-run BSS news agency, “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.”

This announcement comes at a time when Bangladesh's International Criminal Tribunal--established for the prosecution of individuals accused of genocide and crimes against humanity--has once again placed its second arrest warrant against Hasina on January 6. Apart from Hasina, the tribunal instructed Bangladeshi police officials to arrest 11 others and bring them before the tribunal on February 12.

On the same day, Maj Gen (retd) A. L. M. Fazlur Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh's National Independent Investigation Commission, had stated that panel members would like to go to India for the "interrogation" of Hasina in connection with the investigation into the 2009 killing of 74 people by the former Bangladesh Rifles.

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“For the purpose of the investigation, the commission will go to India and interrogate Sheikh Hasina if the [Bangladesh] government gives us permission,” Rahman was quoted as saying by BSS news agency.

Such acts are currently being regarded in New Delhi as attempts by particular elements of Bangladesh's interim government to keep pressuring Indian authorities for Hasina's extradition.

Days after Hasina reached India, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is based in the US, dismissed the report that her visa had been canceled and 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, it has effectively closed the door for any asylum applications on the basis that one cannot apply for asylum outside of Britain since that is a part of the UK's Immigration Rules. Some reports are suggesting that Hasina has also had her visa for the US revoked.

The external affairs ministry, however, has previously said that the matter that it is officially receiving the extradition from Bangladesh tagged it "not available for comment"-and added that it is up to Hasina to decide what plans she has for her future. “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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