New Delhi: Trouble is mounting for ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with both the United Kingdom and the US refusing to accommodate her, even temporarily.
Media reports, which have not been yet confirmed by ThePrint, say the US, which has called for fixing accountability for torture and killings of protesters in Bangladesh, has cancelled Hasina’s visa.
Sources in the security establishment said she was not planning to go to the US but to the UK, which is also stonewalling her case.
They said she has a valid visa but indications are that the UK, which has called for a UN-led probe into the violence in Bangladesh, is not willing to give her asylum or temporary refuge.
Diplomatic sources said the UK has a proud record of providing protection to people who needed it. However, there is no provision within their immigration rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge, sources said.
They added that those who needed international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reached — that is the fastest route to safety. This meant the UK was asking Hasina to seek asylum in India.
Meanwhile, security sources said a possible destination for Hasina would be Dubai in the UAE. They said that no decision had yet been taken by the former Bangladeshi PM.
Sources also said there was no time limit to Hasina staying on in India, where she landed in a Bangladeshi military aircraft Monday evening. However, they admitted that the government would want her to reach the destination of her choice sooner than later.
As reported by ThePrint, Hasina currently remains at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad and is likely to spend a few more days here, contrary to the earlier plan of a technical stopover.
The Bangladeshi military’s C-130J aircraft, which had brought Hasina to India, went back Tuesday.
The original plan, according to sources, was for the plane to make a technical stopover for refuelling, which would have been a couple of hours.
She was then supposed to take a flight either to Dubai, from where she was to move to London on her own, or take a chartered aircraft from Delhi to London.
Within minutes of realising the students’ protests against a controversial anti-quota rule had gone out of hand, the Awami League chief reached out to New Delhi Monday seeking safe passage into Indian airspace, a request that was immediately accepted.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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