The Department of Immigration and Passport has cancelled the passports of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 74 others for their alleged involvement in the July killings, a spokesperson for the Chief Adviser's Office (CAO) said on Tuesday.
Moreover, passports of 22 persons were cancelled for their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances, said the Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, Azad Mazumder, while briefing the press.
Mazumdar said that the government took steps to facilitate quick distribution of passports for the expatriate Bangladeshis across the world.
He said that the expatriate Bangladeshis would get messages on their phones regarding the progress in their applications for e-Passports.
He also mentioned that the passport department delivered 182,745 Passports to different Bangladeshi missions of the world out of 197,000 pending passports.
Responding to a question, he said that since the government decided to print the textbooks for students in the country instead of printing those in India like the previous years, it caused some problems with distribution of textbooks in due time.
He also noted that thousands of Bangladeshi people, involved in the local printing industry, would benefit due to the government decision to print the textbook at home.
He also observed that a vested quarter tried to impede the printing process causing the delay.
Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said that Ameer of the Jamaat e Islami, Shafiqur Rahman, met the Chief Adviser on Tuesday.
"It was a one-to-one meeting where they discussed issues related to reform, election and national unity".
Responding to a question, the press secretary said that what he had said about the timeline of the election earlier in the day, was simply the reiteration of the Chief Adviser's message, conveyed in his address to the nation earlier this month.
"In that speech the Chief Adviser's categorically said that if the political parties and the stakeholders want elections after minimum reform, then elections can be held in December of this year, but if they want greater reform, the election can be held by June next year," he recalled.
Responding to a question, he said reform was a continuous process and decisions and decisions in this regard would be finalised through consultation with all the stakeholders and political parties.
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