Govt revokes diplomatic passports of ex-PM, former MPs

The government has revoked the diplomatic (red) passports of the members of now defunct parliament, including the former prime minister, as well as her advisers and other officials who held such passports.
The Security Service Division of the Home Ministry has issued a circular in this regard today.
In the circular, signed by the deputy security Md Kamruzzaman, the ministry directed the director general (DG) of the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) to revoke the passports immediately.
The circular also instructed the DIP to revoke the diplomatic passports of officials, who got the passports for their posts and positions.
These officials’ red passports will be revoked at the end of their service period.
Along with it, the DIP was further instructed to revoke the red passports of the spouses of the diplomatic passport holders, reads the circular.
If any of these people applied for ordinary passports, then passports can be issued after receiving reports from two investigation agencies, the circular added.
According to the DIP officials, the red passport holders have to surrender their passports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and apply through the Ministry.
Based on the application, the security service division and the DIP will take further necessary steps.
Once the red passports are cancelled, former ministers, and MPs who have been accused in criminal cases or have been arrested may have to go through a legal process to get ordinary passports. In that case, they can apply for a general passport only after getting a court order, said the ministry sources.
A high official of the DIP requesting anonymity told The Daily Star that an order had already been issued to all the DIP offices for not forwarding any red passport applications without verification.
According to ministry sources, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was a red passport holder. In the face of a mass uprising against her government, Hasina took refuge in India on August 5 after the fall of her government.
Several former ministers and MPs of the AL government have already been arrested. Some fled abroad before the fall of Hasina’s government to avoid arrest.
What will happen to those [MPs, Ministers], who are out of the country with red passports, the DIP official said, “These individuals can communicate with the Bangladeshi mission of that traveling country and complete the process by sending a letter to Bangladesh through foreign ministry.”
Or the individual must return to Bangladesh and communicate with the ministry, the official added.
However, there were no reports of anyone fleeing abroad after the fall.