London-exiled acting BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman would be issued a one-time travel pass "within a day" if he chooses to return home, says the foreign adviser.
Md Touhid Hossain also makes it clear that the government has placed no restriction on his return.
Speaking at a discussion organised Sunday by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the National Press Club, the adviser of the post-uprising government told reporters that the High Commission in London is fully prepared to facilitate Rahman's travel.
"We issue a one-time travel pass to any Bangladeshi who wants to return home when they don't have a valid passport or when it has expired," says Hossain-in the wake of speculations over Tarique's return while his mother stays in critical health condition.
"It takes only one day to prepare it.
"So if he says today that he wants to return, we can give it tomorrow - and the day after he can fly."
He stresses that the government had no legal or administrative barrier preventing Rahman's return.
"I can say clearly that the Bangladesh government has no restrictions on Tareq Rahman coming back. He can return anytime."
Responding to a question, Hossain said it would be "extremely unusual" for any state to prevent its own citizen from coming home.
"In my long diplomatic experience, preventing a citizen from returning to their own country is abnormal. If Bangladesh wants to allow its citizen to return, how can another country block it?"
To a question, the Foreign Affairs Adviser said even though Tarique Rahman is not physically present in Bangladesh, the BNP's real leadership has effectively remained in his hands. "I do not think that an election cannot take place - or cannot be fair - unless he sets foot in Dhaka."
He says whether an election will be fair depends on many other factors. He does not believe that the election will be spoiled because of "one person, or because he is abroad".
Let's see - there is still time. I do not know what will happen in the end."
Replying to a question on Begum Khaleda Zia's health condition, he says:"She is not in a condition to be taken abroad right now. She will be taken once she improves. Her party is making arrangements, and we are assisting."
The adviser also says certain unresolved bilateral issues will not impede bilateral ties between Bangladesh and India.
Unresolved issues like Teesta water sharing and border killings will not stall Dhaka's push for return of wanted political figures, he mentions.
"These matters will continue alongside the process of seeking Sheikh Hasina's return…One does not depend on the other. Our national interests are our priority, and we will keep working to achieve them," he told the diplomatic reporters.
"How long it will take I cannot say. But we want them returned so that court verdicts can be executed," he says on Hasina-extradition issue.
He had no official information on former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is believed to be in India.
"We all know he is there, but India has never officially informed us. And I have no information that extradition will start with him."
In response to another question, he said: "There was a warm relationship with India. But can you swear that the people of Bangladesh were very satisfied with that relationship, with the way it functioned? To me, and to many others, it seemed that the warmth existed between the two governments. The role of the public in that relationship was very limited. There were many grievances, yet the then government did not take them into consideration."
"Everyone in Bangladesh felt resentment over issues like the Teesta water sharing and border killings. During the 15 years of this so-called warm relationship, did that government manage to solve even one of these two issues? In other words, external warmth means nothing. What matters is whether our national interests were being protected - and clearly they were not," he observes.
"So I would not say that there was a good relationship with India. There was a relationship - and it was deep - but it existed between the governments."
About the Rohingya refugee issue, the foreign adviser says he had warned, when the first influx began, that Bangladesh should prepare for a minimum 15-year crisis - a caution many dismissed at the time.
"When they arrived, people assumed they would return in a year or two…But I said this is both a humanitarian and a security issue. And, unfortunately, my prediction has proved correct."
Bangladesh is still trying to negotiate a viable repatriation roadmap, but geopolitical interests continue to complicate the process, he mentions.
"I don't want to blame neighbouring countries - they are acting according to their interests. Our job is to persuade them," Hossain notes.
He warns that the long-term confinement of hundreds of thousands of young Rohingya poses serious dangers.
"This is a ticking time bomb. You cannot keep 500,000 to 700,000 young people fenced in forever - they will not accept it. They are already being drawn into criminal networks. The very people who expelled them are now pushing drugs across the border for small sums of money. They are the real beneficiaries of this crisis."
The adviser doesn't know how this will be resolved. "But it is becoming a major problem."
Responding to a question about the establishment of a military facility in India's Siliguri corridor (the 'chicken neck'), he says, "Our agreement with India states that no infrastructure will be built within 500 yards of the border.
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