Sheik Hasina Appeals for New Passport to Return to Bangladesh

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested a new passport Monday to facilitate her return from exile two years after she was ousted in a mass uprising.

The government has been seeking her extradition from India and earlier dismissed suggestions she needed new identification documents to return home. Hasina told The Associated Press in an interview this month that she would return to Bangladesh in December at any cost.

In a letter seen by media that was emailed to Bangladesh's top diplomat in London,



a counsel of Hasina urged the diplomat to take necessary action to provide her a passport and national identity card.

“This is a significant step toward her homecoming. Having had her documents revoked by the previous regime, Her Excellency looks forward to reclaiming her fundamental rights as a Bangladeshi citizen and receiving the necessary documents,” Abu Obaidha Arin, an aide to Hasina, told the media.

“She is determined to return to Bangladesh by December, and she will undoubtedly return home,” he said.