‘Citizenship not linked to passport surrendering’

The head of the country’s Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) has said there is no connection between citizenship and passport surrendering.

DIP director general Maj Gen Md Masud Rezwan said this to reporters at his office on Thursday, referring to a debate over the surrendering of passport by Tarique Rahman at Bangladesh embassy in London.

“If BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has filed an appeal seeking cancellation of his citizenship, that’s a different thing, but we’ve no idea whether he filed any application in this regard.”

According to the Bangladesh Passport Order 1973, a person convicted for minimum of two years would not be issued a passport if he applies within five years of conviction.

“Tarique surrendered his passport at the High Commission in London in 2014 and hasn’t filed any application for his passport since then,” said Rezwan.

The BNP acting chairman can get back his passport if he has the National Identification (NID) card, he said, adding, “Everybody knows that Tarique has no NID, and he has to return home if he wants to take both NID and passport.”

Replying to a question, reports UNB, the DIP director general said that nobody needs a passport to return home as they can do it obtaining a travel pass from any Bangladesh embassy.

Tarique renewed his passport from Bangladesh High Commission in London in 2010 after he left Bangladesh in 2008. When Tarique left the country, he was not a convict, he said.

On April 23, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam sparked a debate, saying at a press conference that Tarique along with his wife and daughter handed over their passports to the British Home Office four years back.