National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Sarwar Tusher has described former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s reported request for a new Bangladeshi passport as a "political manoeuvre" designed to "delay her extradition" from India.
In a Facebook post on Hasina’s passport request, Tushar said the former prime minister, who has been convicted by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, should be returned through the extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India rather than through a fresh passport or travel document.
“Even if Sheikh Hasina has applied for a passport, it is merely another political manoeuvre,” he said. “She is a convicted criminal, and the International Crimes Tribunal has already delivered its verdict against her.”
Tusher argued that the period for Hasina to surrender or appeal against the tribunal’s verdict had already expired.
He said her return should therefore be handled through a formal extradition process, with India handing her over to Bangladesh for enforcement of the verdict.
Tusher questioned how Bangladeshi media outlets had presented the Reuters report, saying it referred to a law firm seeking passport documents on Hasina’s behalf rather than a direct application by the former prime minister.
He said the distinction was important because the passport issue was being used to create a political narrative.
According to Tusher, the attempt was to portray Hasina as willing to return to Bangladesh while suggesting that the Bangladesh government was preventing her from doing so.
“The reality is that she is in India and under the authority of the Indian government,” he said.
Tusher maintained that applications for a passport or travel pass had little practical relevance to her return.
He described them as “delaying tactics” intended to complicate the extradition process.
His interpretation of the legal position was presented as an argument rather than an independent judicial determination.
Tusher urged Dhaka to formally demand that New Delhi arrest and extradite Hasina under the bilateral extradition treaty.
He said India should not use procedural questions surrounding passports or travel documents to delay her return.
“The Indian government must not resort to any delaying tactics in this matter,” he said.
The NCP leader also rejected the idea of direct political engagement with Hasina over her return.
“Why should Bangladesh deal with Sheikh Hasina? This is a government-to-government matter,” he said.
He argued that the issue should be settled exclusively between the two governments, rather than through negotiations involving Hasina or political parties.
Tusher said India should communicate its position formally to Bangladesh, allowing Dhaka to determine its next steps.
He also argued that Hasina’s reported interest in obtaining a passport should strengthen Bangladesh’s demand for her extradition.
Tusher went beyond Hasina’s extradition to call for judicial proceedings against the Awami League as a political organisation.
He accused the party of involvement in acts of sabotage across Bangladesh and said it should face legal accountability for those activities.
He also called for an all-party political decision on the Awami League’s future.
According to Tusher, Bangladesh should pursue two parallel processes: judicial proceedings to determine the party’s legal responsibility and a political consensus on whether and how it should be allowed to operate.
He said both objectives could be achieved without treating them as competing priorities.
“I believe that all political parties in Bangladesh, particularly those opposed to fascism and those aligned with the July uprising, can reach a consensus on these two questions,” he said.
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