With his passport surrendered to the UK authorities, BNP acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman is not a Bangladeshi citizen “at this moment”, says Law Minister Anisul Huq.
Tarique, who has been living in London since 2008, has sought political asylum, says the BNP adding the standard procedure for that requires submitting passport.
“According to the Bangladesh Constitution, there is no relation between citizenship status and passport. A convict, Tarique Rahman has sought political asylum and surrendered his passport, since it’s the only document verifying his citizenship abroad,” he told the media at his offices.
Huq said they had no update on Tarique being granted asylum.
“But since he gave up his passport, he is not a Bangladeshi citizen at this moment,” he said before adding that it can’t be said now whether he will not be able to be a citizen in future.
Despite not being a citizen, Tarique can be brought back to Bangladesh by signing an extradition treaty with the UK in line with the United Nations’ Mutual Legal Assistance Act, said the law minister.
“Though we do not have an extradition treaty with the UK, but there’s no problem to sign one.”

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