Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s plans to travel to London have hit a hurdle as Britain does not seem willing to grant her asylum and she is unlikely to leave India for the next few days.
Sources gave this information on Tuesday. Hours after resigning from the post of Prime Minister, Hasina arrived at Hindon Airbase on Monday by a C-130J military transport aircraft. After this, she was taken to an unknown location and kept under tight security.
Sources said Hasina, along with her sister Rehana, was planning to travel from India to London for temporary asylum but this option is not being pursued yet.
Earlier, the UK government had indicated that Hasina may not enjoy legal protection in the UK against any possible investigation in the wake of violent protests in Bangladesh.
A source said that Hasina is now believed to be considering several other options including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Belarus, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Finland.
In a statement in Parliament, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that Hasina decided to resign after a meeting with officials of security establishments. The Foreign Minister said that yesterday Hasina had sought permission to come to India for some time. The Foreign Minister said, “We also received a request from the Bangladesh authorities for approval of the flight. She reached Delhi yesterday evening.”
Sources said Awami League leader Hasina had planned to travel to London via India and her aides had informed Indian authorities about it before reaching Hindon.
Hasina decided to go to London because Rehana’s daughter Tulip Siddiq is a member of the British Parliament. Tulip is the Economic Secretary in the Finance Ministry and a Labour Party MP.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement in London on Monday that Bangladesh has seen unprecedented violence and loss of life and property over the past few weeks and the country’s people “deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events.”
Under UK immigration rules, it is not possible to apply for asylum from outside the UK and each asylum claim is carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.
Britain has a record of providing protection to those in need, but at the same time its immigration rules have no provision to allow anyone to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary asylum, an expert said.
The expert said those in need of international protection should first seek asylum in a safe country.
Sources familiar with the matter said Hasina has informed India about her possible future moves. It is also learnt that Hasina also has family members in Finland and hence she is also considering the option of going to the northern European country.
Sources said there has been some hitch in Hasina’s travel plans and she may remain in India for the next few days.
Hasina (76) resigned as prime minister on Monday following massive protests that began against a job reservation provision but within weeks spiraled into a full-blown movement demanding her ouster.
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