The citizenship issue
On 18 March 2008, Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed stated at a news conference in London that Bangladeshis holding British passports would retain their Bangladeshi citizenship automatically unless one relinquishes one's allegiance to Bangladesh 'voluntarily' (The Daily Star, 24 March 2008). By doing so the Chief Adviser has provided the correct interpretation of the Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Order 1972 (P.O. N. 149 of 1972) , further amended by the Ordinance No. VII of 1978 which under clause 2B states, " A citizen of Bangladesh shall not, merely by reason of being a citizen or acquiring citizenship of a state specified in or under clause (2) [i.e., any state of Europe or North America], cease to be a citizen of Bangladesh". This position of the Government of Bangladesh is accepted by a number of governments of Europe including Sweden. This was confirmed in a communication from the Director of Citizenship, Government of Sweden, on 2nd February 1989 that stated , " The legal text shall be interpreted such as that a citizen of Bangladesh who obtains citizenship of a European or a North American state can retain the Bangladeshi citizenship". Since a Bangladeshi citizen does not lose his/her Bangladeshi citizenship by acquiring the citizenship of a European state such as Sweden, the question of applying for a citizenship of Bangladesh after acquiring citizenship of a European state is irrelevant and redundant.
Since the Chief Adviser has clarified the situation with respect to the Bangladeshi British passport holders, it will be important to clarify the position of the Government of Bangladesh for Bangladeshi nationals holding passports of other European countries. Bangladeshi citizens living in these countries are no less patriotic than those living in the UK. Otherwise, the present government is bound to face accusation of practicing discrimination on this issue.
In many cases, certain Bangladeshi missions in Europe did not offer the correct interpretation of the citizenship ordinance and had forced many Bangladeshis to apply for their citizenship unnecessarily, even though they had neither given up Bangladeshi citizenship voluntarily, nor had legally lost it.
Those who apply for citizenship encounter horrendously complicated bureaucratic procedures that involve corrupt practices such as payment of bribes at almost all steps as has been narrated by a sufferer (The Daily Star, April 13, 2008).
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