Govt doesn’t know where Hasina is now

Dhaka has asked Delhi and the United Arab Emirates about the whereabouts of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, but did not get any confirmation yet, Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain said yesterday.

Hasina fled to India amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.

There were controversies over her stay in India, and Law Adviser Prof Asif Nazrul had said she would be brought back home if the courts required it. Hasina faces dozens of cases that accuse her of killings during the July-August student movement.

Recently, there have been rumours on social media that Hasina left New Delhi for the UAE.

Asked if some ministers who took shelter in India are moving to other countries, Touhid said he had no idea. There is no way for the Bangladesh high commission in India to issue travel permits for them to go to other countries, he told reporters at the foreign ministry.

About the Bangladeshis in Lebanon, the adviser said the foreign ministry has requested the International Organisation for Migration to arrange flights for evacuating the Bangladeshis who have been displaced by the Israeli attacks in Southern Lebanon over the last few weeks.

The government has asked the Bangladesh mission in Beirut to prepare the list of those who want to return home, he said.

According to the Bangladeshi community leaders in Lebanon, some 3,000 Bangladeshis, men, women and children, were displaced and are now living in several shelter centres with support from the Bangladeshi community, Bangladesh embassy, and Lebanese charities.

Touhid said it is risky to fly from Beirut airport because of the Israeli attacks. Thus, the government is considering alternative options for evacuating the Bangladeshis who are willing to return home. There are some 1 lakh Bangladeshis living in this Middle Eastern country.

ITALIAN VISA

In another development, some Bangladeshis, who applied for Italian visas but are yet to receive them, met Touhid at the foreign ministry yesterday.

He asked the applicants not to demonstrate or do anything to put pressure on the Italian authorities.

In such cases, Italy may not issue visas to them. The legal programme under which Italy hire Bangladeshis may also be stopped, he said after the meeting.

According to the applicants, they applied for the visas many months ago but were yet to get the visas.

Some 40,000 applications have been filed with the embassy, they said.

Touhid said he had a meeting with the Italian ambassador in Dhaka who said Italy had a manpower shortage. However, 20,000 of the visas have already been cleared by the Italian authorities in Rome. “We are hoping that the visas of the 20,000 will be issued by December this year.”