DHAKA — Bangladesh will not issue travel documents to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and will instead demand that New Delhi surrender her under the bilateral extradition treaty, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir announced Monday.
Dhaka rejected the exiled leader's formal petition for a fresh passport and National Identity card outright. Hasina had submitted the consular request through the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi via the London-based law firm Matrix Chambers. Kabir dismissed the paperwork as an insult to the nation's justice system.
She will not fly home as a free citizen.
"Someone who fled the country after killing people has no history of returning — only a history of running away," Kabir told reporters in Dhaka. "A terrorist is not simply coming for a casual visit to a relative's home, for which a passport might be issued. If she wishes to return, the matter must be addressed through India, ensuring her handover to Bangladesh under the existing extradition treaty."
Kabir aimed sharp criticism directly at Matrix Chambers, warning the British firm that it was shielding a fugitive. He charged that Hasina bore command responsibility for state-sanctioned violence that claimed more than 1,500 lives in the final six weeks of her 15-year rule before mass protests toppled her administration.
"I would first advise that London-based law firm to properly identify who their client is," Kabir said. "Their client is a terrorist — someone who, over the years, has been responsible for the killing, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial execution of thousands of people. Instead of chasing money looted from the people of Bangladesh, you should adhere to some ethical boundaries. This request is fundamentally weak — legally, morally, and ideologically."
Hasing faces multiple criminal trials in Dhaka courts based on evidence compiled since her government collapsed. In one completed prosecution, an open court has already sentenced her to death, while dozens of other cases tied to extrajudicial killings and mass casualty crackdowns remain pending on judicial dockets.
Dhaka insists standard consular pathways are closed. The only legal entry route available to the deposed prime minister runs strictly through formal extradition custody between New Delhi and Dhaka.
"Just as other criminals are transferred — placed in handcuffs or under strict surveillance and escorted onto a plane — she would be brought back in the same manner," Kabir said. "Sent to prison, and the court's verdict would be carried out."
Dhaka is now preparing to push its extradition claim directly through diplomatic channels in New Delhi, setting up a sharp test of the bilateral transfer treaty as Hasina's trials proceed in Bangladeshi courts.