The Cabinet Division has advised the home ministry to treat all offences as ‘cognizable’ and ‘non-bailable’ under Clause 14 (1) of the draft Bangladesh Passports Act, 2018, so that stern action can be taken against those who violate the law. Most of the ministries and divisions, including the police department, have already given their separate opinions to finalise the draft Act, said sources in the Security Service Division of the home ministry.

The Security Service Division recently reviewed all the opinions of the ministries and divisions concerned as well as the draft Act. A high-powered committee, headed by an additional secretary of the division, has been formed to further scrutinise the draft law, the sources added.

After receiving a report with necessary recommendations from the committee, the Security Service Division will hold an inter-ministerial meeting to finalise the draft Act, according to the sources.

In another opinion, the Cabinet Division has advised that the tenure of each passport be at least 10 years in the draft Act.

The Cabinet Division also advised including the provision in the draft law to allow mobile courts to try offenders for petty offences.

The foreign ministry, in its opinion, says a provision should be kept in the draft Act so that foreign ministry officials in addition to the department of immigration and passports can issue ‘diplomatic passports’.

The draft Act has incorporated a provision that those convicted under the Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order, 1972, the International Crimes Tribunals Act, 1973, and for money laundering would not be eligible to get passports.

The director-general of the department of immigration and passports, Maj. Gen. Md Masud Rezwan, told The Independent that they are waiting to get the amended passport Act. “It would help us implement our goal to issue E-passports and increase the tenure of the travel device to 10 years from the existing five years,” he said.

“We hope the Passports Act would be amended as soon as possible,” he said. Sources said in 2015, the government had planned to increase the tenure of the machine readable passports (MRPs) from five to 10 years and also the number of its pages from 48 to 64 for long-term use of their holders and also to help mitigate suffering. The home ministry had then decided to issue a gazette notification to extend the tenure of the MRPs to 10 years. The ministry had solicited the

opinions of some ministries and divisions. The initiative, however, came a cropper, thanks to bureaucratic tangles.

At present, to issue a passport on an emergency basis, the cost is Tk. 6,000 (USD 100). It is Tk. 3,000 (USD 50) for a normal passport. MRPs were introduced in the country on April 1, 2010, to speed up clearance and enhance travellers’ security.