Dhaka summoned New Delhi’s deputy high commissioner and chargé d’affaires on Monday after a senior adviser to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman said he was humiliated during immigration screening at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Pawan Badhe was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka, where officials conveyed “deep disappointment” over the treatment of Dr Zahed Ur Rahman, the prime minister’s adviser on policy and strategy affairs, and information and broadcasting. The protest turned a protocol dispute at one of South Asia’s busiest airports into a diplomatic flashpoint between neighbours trying to reset relations after years of political strain.
Zahed Ur Rahman had arrived in New Delhi on Sunday evening to attend the 28th meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, scheduled for 15-16 June. He was part of a Bangladesh delegation travelling for a government-level regional forum hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs. Immigration officials stopped him after his name was flagged during screening, questioned him and kept him waiting for several hours before allowing him to proceed.
The adviser did not continue with the visit and returned to Bangladesh instead. With no direct Dhaka flight available late on Sunday, he travelled back via Colombo. Bangladesh officials treated the episode as more than a routine airport delay because he had travelled for an official engagement and was carrying a Bangladeshi passport with a SAARC visa.
Accounts from officials familiar with the case point to two elements shaping the diplomatic exchange. Zahed Ur Rahman was not carrying a diplomatic passport, which meant he remained subject to standard immigration checks. At the same time, Dhaka’s position is that a senior member of the prime minister’s policy team should not have been left waiting in a public area or subjected to treatment it regarded as discourteous.
Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman described the incident as unexpected and unfortunate and said the government was taking appropriate steps. New Delhi had not issued an immediate public statement, leaving the explanation of the screening process to emerge through officials and diplomatic channels.
The incident comes at a sensitive point in relations. Tarique Rahman took office after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a decisive parliamentary mandate in February, ending the interim period that followed the 2024 uprising and the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government. New Delhi congratulated Rahman after the vote and signalled interest in working with his administration on shared development goals, but the relationship remains burdened by unresolved political, border and security issues.
Sheikh Hasina’s continued stay in India has remained a major irritant for Dhaka, which has sought her extradition since her removal from power. Border management has also become contentious, with Bangladesh objecting to alleged attempts to push undocumented migrants across the frontier without agreed repatriation procedures. Security officials from both sides have continued talks on intelligence sharing and coordinated patrols, but the migration dispute has kept pressure on the relationship.
The airport episode has added a personal and symbolic layer to those tensions. Bangladesh’s protest suggests it views the treatment of Zahed Ur Rahman as inconsistent with the diplomatic tone set after Rahman’s election. New Delhi, however, is likely to frame the matter around airport procedures, passenger documentation and security alerts, particularly if the traveller’s name appeared on a watchlist during routine checks.
The IORA meeting was meant to focus on cooperation across the Indian Ocean region under the theme of innovation, openness, resilience and adaptability. The Committee of Senior Officials is the association’s main coordinating mechanism below the ministerial level, bringing together officials from member states to prepare decisions on maritime cooperation, trade, connectivity, disaster resilience and regional security.
