Prime Minister’s Policy and Strategy Affairs Adviser Dr Zahed Ur Rahman is on his way home after he was stopped at Delhi airport by Indian immigration authorities last evening after his name was flagged during a security check.
Quoting sources, Indian news portal CNN-News18 reported that Zahed was “briefly stopped” as his name reportedly appeared on a security-related watchlist.
Immigration officials flagged his name during routine checks and subsequently held him for verification, it reported.
“After intervention, the immigration authorities allowed his entry, but the adviser decided to return home,” a source in New Delhi told The Daily Star.
On Sunday afternoon, Bangladesh High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah himself went to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to receive him.
According to diplomatic sources, Zahed was travelling to India to attend the 28th Meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), scheduled for June 15 and 16 hosted by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
However, after landing, he was questioned by Indian immigration authorities and kept waiting for about two and a half hours without showing any specific reason, Prothom Alo reports.
Sources said the prime minister’s adviser did not have a diplomatic passport but a green passport with a Saarc sticker.
However, the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi had sent a diplomatic note verbale to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs informing it about Zahed’s visit.
As there was no direct return flight from Delhi to Dhaka last night, Zahed Ur Rahman flew to Colombo and is scheduled to return to Dhaka this afternoon, sources said.