Comedy of error

Ever seen a visa in which the last date of entry to a foreign country you intend to travel to expires days before the issue date of the visa itself?

Well, this is exactly what happened to one Indian citizen who, along with his brother, wanted to travel to Bangladesh this month. But due to the “mistake” in one of their visas, the siblings had to return home from the border.

Qusar Laskar and his younger brother Baharul Laskar from Hailakandi district in the Indian state of Assam were all set to enter Bangladesh on Friday. They went to Zakiganj border checkpoint in Sylhet, but Baharul was not allowed to exit India as there was this mistake in his visa.

Talking to The Daily Star over the phone yesterday, Qusar, a school teacher, said that as there was no Bangladesh mission in Assam, they submitted their tourist visa applications to the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, through a local broker on December 23 last year.

“Agartala is at least 350km away from our district. So it is difficult to go there each time and complete the visa procedures. Later, we got our visas done through a local broker,” he said.

He said they got their visas on January 9 and went to Zakiganj port on Friday. But when they approached the Indian immigration, the officials there identified that the date of issue and the last date of entry were incorrect in Baharul's visa.

The issuance date was written as “05-02-17” (February 5, 2017) and the last date of entry as “04-01-17” (January 5, 2017).

“As the Indian immigration officials refused my younger brother to exit India, we had no other option but to go back home,” Qusar said.

He said he immediately contacted an official at the Agartala high commission office over the phone, but the official allegedly refuted his complaint and also blamed them for the error.

“The official refused to disclose his name. He also misbehaved with me and asked me to go to the high commission to have the visa corrected,” Qusar alleged.

He said they had already handed the passport over to the local broker for the correction, which they said might take at least a week.

Sultan Ahmed, an official of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, told The Daily Star over the phone last night that the mistake occurred as a large number of visas for were being issued for the people intending to attend Biswa Ijtema in Tongi of Gazipur.

He also apologised.