BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy on Friday alleged
that the passport-issuing authorities, dictated by the government, are
putting the delivery of passports of the opposition leaders on hold
just to harass them. “The passport-issuing authorities at the behest
of the government are holding off the passports of some opposition
leaders. How will a fair election be held under those who fear to
issue passports to opposition leaders,” he said. Gayeshwar came up
with the allegation at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central
office. He alleged the passport-issuing authorities are delaying
replacement of his old passport with machine readable one. The BNP
leader alleged that earlier the authorities also put off the delivery
of passports to some of his party leaders, including Khandaker
Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Rafiqul Islam Miah, Nitai Roy
Chowdhury and Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu. Gayeshwar said he had
applied to the Department of Immigration & Passports for a machine
readable passport following all the necessary processes but it was not
delivered in time. “Every citizen of the country has the right to
get a passport. The government is snatching all the rights of people
in every possible means. He also alleged that while killers,
corrupts, looters and frauds are given passports, the government is
pressuring the authorities concerned to delay the issuance of
passports to opposition leaders. – UNB
