Escalating its attacks against Sheikh Hasina and her family, the Bangladesh Election Commission’s National Identity Registration Wing has blocked the National Identity cards of the former Prime Minister and nine of her family members.
The NIDs of the 10 listed individuals were locked through an official letter on April 16, signed by ASM Humayun Kabir, director general of the National Identity Registration Wing at the EC, The Daily Star reported.
The other individuals whose NID’s have been locked include – Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed (Sheikh Hasina’s son and Awami League leader), Saima Wazed (her daughter), Rehana Siddiq (Sheikh Rehana, Hasina’s younger sister), Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Hasina’s niece and UK MP; daughter of Rehana), Azmina Siddiq (Tulip’s sister and Hasina’s niece), Shaheen Siddiq (aunt of Tulip), Bushra Siddiq (Shaheen’s UK-based daughter), Radwan Mujib Siddiq (Tulip’s brother), and Tarique Ahmed Siddiq (was Hasina’s security affairs advisor and is husband of Shaheen Siddiq).
Bangladesh Election Commission officials said that locking an NID means its information can no longer be verified, corrected, or changed.
A locked NID is effectively unusable. However, it is still not clear whether there was a direct order from the Election Commission Secretariat.
In Bangladesh, the NID is a crucial document used for various essential services such as banking, voting, legal processes, utilities, telecommunication services etc.
Therefore, “locking” an NID has significant implications, essentially completely disenfranchising a citizen from all government services.
