DHAKA: Bangladesh will reinsert the historic “Except Israel” travel restriction into its general electronic passports, Home Affairs Adviser Salahuddin Ahmed announced. The decision restores a foundational diplomatic stance that the South Asian nation temporarily removed five years ago during a digital passport upgrade.
Ahmed informed the media at a press conference recently that “the ‘Except Israel’ clause would be brought back for all general passports.” It was also reported that the immigration department had already adopted this policy for diplomatic passports.
Aligning with Public Sentiment and Foreign Policy
It was pointed out by senior officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Immigration and Passport that the reason behind adopting this policy was to adhere to its historic foreign policy in order to represent public opinion and the ethical stand of Bangladesh about the statehood of Palestine.
The 2021 E-Passport Controversy
This issue has been going on since 2021 when the government of the Awami League headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina implemented an electronic passport costing 45 billion Taka. One of the changes made was the exclusion of the old saying in the passport: “This passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel.”
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The absence of this statement caused a backlash from the citizens. While the previous government defended the move as a technical step toward global digital standardization, critics viewed it as a compromise on the country’s geopolitical principles.
Implementation Process
Last year’s interim government initiated the reversal when the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order on April 7 directing authorities to restore the original wording on passports. Though administrative hurdles first hindered implementation in only diplomatic passports, the new administration is currently enforcing this order for all passports.
As both countries have no diplomatic or commercial relationship, Bangladesh has chosen to adopt this passport restriction following its independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Government Updates Passport Watermarks
In addition to these textual amendments, there is also ongoing work on a large-scale overhaul of the appearance of the pages within the passport.
In this regard, the new passport books would feature a watermark of Abu Sayed, the man who fought on behalf of the rights of the students and turned out to become the most prominent image of the protests that happened in July. Moreover, authorities plan to replace several existing watermark images with new historic symbols.
