Prime Minister’s Policy and Strategy Affairs Adviser Dr Zahed Ur Rahman on Tuesday said the issue he faced at the Delhi airport, while traveling to India, is now under diplomatic review.
He shared his experience during a press conference on Tuesday on the progress of government activities.
"It is being handled by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If it were strictly an internal matter of one country, it would have been different. Since it has become a bilateral issue, and there is diplomatic communication between both sides, we will let them deal with it.”
Rejecting suggestions that the incident was linked to his travel documents, Zahed said he did not use a diplomatic passport during the visit.
“My passport had a SAARC sticker. That should function effectively in such cases. The passport is not the issue,” he said, adding that diplomatic passports are a privilege, not a requirement.
"Some are trying to suggest the passport was the issue, but it was not. The reason was something else, and parts of this have also appeared in the Indian media," he added.
Describing the incident, he said: “What happened— I will briefly explain in two or three sentences. I led a delegation, and others were with me. They cleared immigration and moved ahead. When my immigration started, I immediately realized they were delaying and consulting various people.
"Our high commissioner was with me from the beginning, which is very important. There have been questions about whether he was weak or negligent, but I clearly state that from landing until I left on a flight to Dhaka via Colombo at around 8:30pm, Indian time, he was present throughout and tried to resolve the situation by contacting different authorities.”
Dr Zahed further said: “I am not explaining the exact issue in detail. It has already been reported in newspapers, especially Indian media, based on their sources. Within two hours, I decided it was too much. I chose not to proceed further into India’s immigration process. I am not speaking as an individual here; I hold an official position representing the state, and I felt that the courtesy due to that position was not maintained. That is why I made this decision. The details of what happened can be found in various Indian and Bangladeshi media reports, so I am not elaborating further.”