The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Ending an old dilemma of foreign service cadres, the Council of Advisers has amended a 1976 Law to allow its diplomats to marry foreigners.

The Council of Advisers in its weekly meeting with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on Sunday approved the legal amendment allowing diplomatic job holders to marry foreigners.

"With the approval to the Public Servant (marriage with foreign national) (amendments) Ordinance 2008, the foreign service officers can now marry foreign nationals with

the permission of the President," a Cabinet Division spokesman said.

Under the 1976 Ordinance, the government employees could marry foreign nationals with the President's permission but there was an embargo regarding marriage of Foreign Ministry officials with foreigners.

Foreign Ministry sources earlier this month said Bangladesh's permanent representative to UN Ismat Jahan expressed her desire to marry a Dutch national presently staying in New York.

Jahan communicated her desire to the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka and sought permission though Foreign Service rules did not allow so far diplomats to marry foreigners as "there is a risk of state secrets being leaked out." Jahan, who is in her early 50s, was determined to marry her Dutch fiance even risking her job, her colleagues said.

Earlier, Anwarul Karim Chaudhury, a permanent representative to UN, married a Nepalese woman and he was allowed to continue his service but former Bangladesh envoy to Malaysia Wazed Ali Khan had to quit his job after marrying a Pakistani woman.