Bangladesh PM’s adviser stopped at Delhi airport because his name was on a ‘blacklist’

Information and Broadcasting Advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman Zahed Ur Rahman. File photo: Special arrangement

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Zahed Ur Rahman was stopped by immigration officials at the Delhi airport on June 14 as his name was included in a “blacklist” generated by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in 2025.

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Mr. Rahman was traveling on a regular passport with a SAARC visa to attend a conference in India. Since his name was not removed from the blacklist, it led the immigration authorities to stop him at the Delhi airport following a system-generated alert against his name, government sources told The Hindu.

According to Prothom Alo, a Bangladeshi news paper, the Bangladesh High Commission sent a formal letter to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on 12 June 2026 confirming that Mr. Rahman would lead the Bangladeshi delegation to the conference.

Mr. Rahman was reportedly blacklisted by the MEA because he had made anti-India remarks on social media platforms in the past. The blacklist or negative list contains the names of foreign nationals who are to be denied visas.

After the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) took power in the neighboring country in February 2026, Mr. Rahman was appointed as an advisor with the rank of Minister of State to the Government of Bangladesh.

He was nominated by the Government of Bangladesh to attend the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) meeting in Delhi. IORA is an intergovernmental organization comprising 23 countries, established on March 7, 1997. She is currently the Chairperson of IORA India for a term of two years (2025-2027).

“Zahed Ur Rahman, adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on information and broadcasting, had immigration permission to enter India but decided to return from Delhi airport,” the source said when asked if MEA officials had forgotten to remove Mr Rahman’s name from the blacklist before his arrival in Delhi for the IORA conference.

When the case was flagged by the Bangladesh High Commission, the immigration notice against Mr. Rahman was withdrawn and he was allowed to enter India, sources said. The process took more than two hours, prompting Mr. Rahman to return to Dhaka on a connecting flight from Colombo.

In 2016, the Union government informed Parliament that “names of foreign nationals and foreigners of Indian origin who are found to have indulged in anti-India activities, heinous crimes or violated visa rules are negative listed after due consultation… Such persons are barred from entering India for a specified period.”

Several government agencies, including the State Police, may recommend names for inclusion on a negative list, which is then forwarded to the Bureau of Immigration (BOI), which screens such records at airports and land and seaports.

Published – 17 Jun 2026 22:08 IST