British MP Lord Alexander Carlile deported from Delhi airport for carrying 'invalid visa': All you need to know

Britain’s Lord Alexander Carlile was denied entry into India upon his arrival at Delhi airport for not having the appropriate Indian visa, according to Ministry of External Affairs. Lord Carlile, who is a British MP and legal consultant to jailed former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia, was travelling to Delhi to address a media briefing to highlight what the opposition the “baseless allegations” against Zia. [caption id=“attachment_4724831” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Lord Alexander Carlile. Image courtesy: Twitter/@htTweets[/caption] “His intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application,” Foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. “It was therefore decided to deny him entry into India upon arrival,” he said. The Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh has already barred his entry into the country. According to NDTV, Lord Carlile had told Dhaka Tribune that since he was not been permitted to come to Dhaka, he wanted to hold a press conference in India “to explain the complexities in Khaleda Zia’s case to the international media community”. Carlile was appointed to the Zia’s legal team in March 2018. Zia, who heads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has nearly three dozen criminal cases filed against her which the party insists, are part of a plot to keep her and her family out of politics. However, India-Bangladesh affairs experts claim that Carlile is known to have links with outlawed extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami and is trying to defend BNP at the behest of Jamaat, The Economic Times reported. Carlile, who was the former head of chambers of Foundry Chambers in London, was the first Member of Parliament to campaign for the rights of transgender people. He is also known for having defended Princess Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, against charges that he had stolen some of her estate’s belongings. In 2001, he was appointed independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and in 2012 he was made the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours for services to national security. With inputs from PTI