Shama says advisor's detention in Delhi 'not pleasant'

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaid has said that the incident of Prime Minister's advisor Zahed Ur Rahman being detained at Delhi airport immigration is 'unexpected' for Dhaka.

To a question from reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she said, 'We have heard this through the media, the incident that has happened is not pleasant on Monday. We do not expect such an incident to happen. Our ministry is investigating it, talking about it. We will definitely take any action after knowing the entire incident, if there is any action to be taken, we will take that action.'

The Prime Minister's Advisor on Information, Broadcasting and Culture arrived at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday evening to participate in the two-day meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to be held in Delhi from Monday. He was supposed to lead the Bangladesh delegation in that meeting.

But the Indian immigration authorities kept him at the airport for two and a half hours. They were also not clear whether he would be allowed to enter Delhi or not. In this situation, Zahed ur Rahman decided to return home.

According to the Indian media outlet News Eighteen, after detaining and questioning Zahed ur Rahman at the airport for some time, the immigration authorities allowed him to enter India, but Advisor Zahed did not agree to it.

Later, he decided to cancel his official visit and return home in protest at the 'discourteous behavior' and the long detention. He arrived at Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport at 11:30am via Colombo, Sri Lanka on Monday.

When journalists present at the airport asked about the incident in Delhi, the Advisor did not comment.

This incident occurred at a time when there were reports of various initiatives to improve relations between the two countries.

Many questions are also being raised about why an advisor of the rank of state minister had to go abroad and face such an embarrassing situation.

A Foreign Ministry official said that the Prime Minister's advisor has not yet taken a diplomatic passport (red passport). He went to India with a SAARC visa on a regular (green) passport.

When an official of this level of government goes abroad, a protocol officer of the Bangladesh mission is present there to welcome him. What happened in this case is not yet clear.

The question is also being raised whether the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi failed to communicate properly about the advisor's visit. But no statement has been received from the High Commission in this regard yet.

However, according to media reports, the Bangladesh High Commission gave a diplomatic note (note verbale) to the Indian Foreign Ministry last Friday regarding the advisor's official visit. Even Bangladesh High Commissioner M. Riaz Hamidullah personally spoke to the concerned official of the Indian Foreign Ministry over the phone.

If that is the case, then the question of why the advisor was harassed at immigration is still unanswered.

Indian media outlet News Eighteen, citing sources, wrote that the complication arose because the advisor's name, Zahed Ur Rahman, was on an Indian security watch list. That is why the airport immigration officials identified him and temporarily detained him for questioning.

The report said that the problem apparently arose due to an administrative error. Although Zahed Ur Rahman's name had been removed from a social media 'blacklist', it is alleged that it remained on the immigration list. Due to which the alert was raised after his arrival.

Later, after identifying and resolving this discrepancy, the officials allowed him to enter India. But as the behavior of the Indian immigration authorities was 'not appropriate', the advisor asked for his passport back and prepared to return home.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday summoned India's acting High Commissioner to Dhaka Pawankumar Badhe to protest the detention of the Prime Minister's advisor at the Delhi airport.

Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman said in response to a question from reporters, "This is an unexpected incident; what you said is also unfortunate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking appropriate action in this regard and we will inform you about it by the end of today."