Bangladesh appeals for extension

The government has officially requested International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) to push back its deadline by two years for issuing MRPs to Bangladeshi nationals who are still holding handwritten passports.

The Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) made the request on Sunday, just two days ahead of the expiry of the deadline.

The civil aviation ministry forwarded the letter to the Icao, AHM Ziaul Haque, a joint secretary at the ministry, told The Daily Star.

The letter said only two lakh expatriate Bangladeshis didn't get machine readable passports (MRPs) in time, he added.

The Icao had set the November 24 deadline to phase out all handwritten passports.

The government acted at the fag end of the deadline although the media over the last one year have been reporting that a large number of Bangladeshis would be left out without MRPs.

The civil aviation ministry had urged the home ministry to apply to the Icao for extending the time frame, but the latter didn't take any initiative, according to an official of the civil aviation ministry.

Rather, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan repeatedly said Bangladeshis would not face any problem with the MRP deadline.

Sources said the DIP's letter might not bring any good results to Bangladesh as the Icao has “no jurisdiction” to extend the deadline. The organisation earlier said countries failing to meet the deadline would resolve the matter bilaterally.

As per the latest data of the foreign ministry, over 11 lakh expatriate Bangladeshis were yet to get MRPs. Some Bangladesh missions abroad blamed the failure on the Malaysian IRIS company, home ministry and the DIP.

Against such a backdrop, the foreign ministry recently issued directives to several Bangladesh missions abroad to talk to the respective countries on allowing Bangladeshi citizens to travel on handwritten passports for two more years.

“Bangladesh missions were asked to let the foreign countries know about the government's application to the Icao,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told reporters yesterday. 

He claimed that some foreign countries already assured Bangladesh of allowing its nationals to travel on handwritten passports.