Is Sheikh Hasina's stay in India set to get longer? UK says fastest route to safety is...

Sheikh Hasina, who resigned from the post of Bangladesh Prime Minister and fled Dhaka on Monday, was expected to fly out to the UK after a brief stopover in India, but her stay in New Delhi is likely to be longer as her visa approval from the British authorities is pending.  

Hasina, 76, has been seeking asylum in the UK. She left Bangladesh following month-long massive and deadly anti-government protests across the country.

Detailing about Immigration Rules, the UK Home Office told CNBC-TV18 that it does not allow entry for those seeking asylum or temporary refuge.  

“The UK has a proud record of providing protection to those in need. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge,” it said.  

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“Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety,” the Home Office further said.

At the all-party convened by the Central government in New Delhi on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also hinted that Hasina’s stay in India may extend. The EAM said, “Right now we are only ensuring Sheikh Hasina settles down, let her recover and be comfortable to discuss her plans."  

Hasina left Dhaka with her sister Sheikh Rehana around 2:30 pm on Monday. Rehana holds a UK citizenship. By early evening, the Bangladesh Air Forces’ C130J aircraft carrying them landed at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Hindon in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, close to Delhi. Also, Rehana’s daughter Tulip Siddiq is a member of the British Parliament for the Labor Party.

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The C-130J flight on Tuesday morning left for Bangladesh and Hasina was not aboard the transport aircraft. ANI quoted sources as saying that it was carrying seven military personnel but not the former prime minister.

This is, however, not the first time Hasina is taking refugees in India. In 1975, when her father and founder of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, was assassinated in Dhaka, she and her sister were secretly flown in from Berlin. They had then lived at a safe house of the intelligence agencies at Pandhara Road in New Delhi for six long years as guests of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government.  

With inputs from agencies