Sheikh Hasina Not Clear About Next Move, to Remain at Hindon (India) For 'Safety Reasons'

 : India will offer comprehensive logistical support 

IANS & Agencies, August 06, 2024, New Delhi: The Indian government has granted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina an interim stay following the collapse of her government in the South Asian country on Monday, media reports said.

During this period, India will offer comprehensive logistical support as Hasina pursues asylum in the UK, Daily Sun reported.

Her stay in India is approved only temporarily, pending her relocation to Britain.

Hasina, who resigned on Monday following unprecedented anti-government protests, is on her way to London through India.

Sheikh Hasina is not clear about her next move, sources have told CNN-News18. 

While the UK is reportedly not ready to give her asylum, Hasina has full freedom to work out her next move, sources said. 

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said Sheikh Hasina’s presence in India is a courtesy move while the central government is closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and gauging its long-term impact. 

About her arrival in India, Jaishankar told the all-party meeting that for now it is being ensured that Hasina settles down, recovers and feels comfortable enough to discuss her plans. 

“We want to give her space and time, she has come at short notice,” he said at the meeting, adding that there is no decision yet on where she will go next.

The entire opposition, in one voice, said it is on the same page with the government on this. Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asked a number of questions about the situation, which forced Hasina to resign and flee her country on Monday (August 5). 

According to INDIA bloc sources, Gandhi asked about the Centre’s plan for Hasina and how Indian concerns can be protected. 

The sources said the government cannot and would not want to divulge the details on the floor of the house, to which the opposition said it will cooperate. 

Top government officials, however, said Hasina will be staying in India for the next few days, pending a security review among other matters. After she was forced to leave Dhaka, India negotiated her safe passage following which she landed at the Hindon airbase near Delhi, where there are facilities for high-level dignitaries for a long stay. 

Highly placed sources said Hasina is not clear about her next move, as the UK has not been forthcoming. 

  (From left) Sheikh Hasina with Sheikh Rehana; Tulip Siddiq with her mother Sheikh Rehana. (Facebook)

They earlier told CNN-News18 that she has full freedom to work out her next move and may also try to go to the Scandinavian countries.

CNN-News18 has learned that Hasina will remain at Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad only for safety reasons till she decides where she will go to seek asylum.

Hasina is open to moving to other European countries with the United Kingdom not forthcoming with a friendly welcome.

Reports say that her sister Rehana, who holds a UK citizenship, may leave early. 

Rehana, the younger daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the "Father of Bangladesh," and Sheikh Fazilatun Necha Mujib, is also the younger sister of Sheikh Hasina. 

Rehana's daughter, Tulip Siddiq, serves as a member of the British Parliament representing the Labour Party. Rehana's youngest daughter Azmina Siddiq is the global risk analysis editor at Control Risks in London.

As of now, there has been no confirmation from the UK government regarding the grant of political asylum for the former Bangladesh Prime Minister, Daily Sun reported.

Meanwhile, Indian government sources said that New Delhi is closely following the fast-paced developments in Dhaka.

The Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman said he had met political leaders and told them the Army would take over responsibility for law and order. More than 100 people have been killed in the protests against the Hasina government over the last two days.

All-party meeting was held in the Indian Parliament on the issue of Bangladesh. Union Ministers Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, and Kiren Rijiju and Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal and others attended the meeting. EAM S Jaishankar briefed the members of different political parties. 

Sources said nothing was decided on Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the all-party meeting. 

At the meeting, the government said there are nearly 13,000 Indians in Bangladesh right now. However, their evacuation was not needed at the moment. 

The government also had a brief discussion with Sheikh Hasina, sources said. 

Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin late last evening chaired a crucial meeting to discuss the formation of a military-backed caretaker government. Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, along with the head of the navy and airforce, and top leaders of several opposition parties including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami party, attended the meeting.

Daily Sun Report, New Delhi, Monday, 05 August, 2024: Sheikh Hasina has been refused asylum in India, Indian TV channel ABP English reported on Monday, quoting unidentified sources.

According to the channel, Hasina is now likely to head to Europe.

Meanwhile, India’s former foreign secretary and ex-high commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla told ANI, "It is difficult for me to say if Sheikh Hasina will be granted asylum in India."

Shringla said, “India has never denied safe haven or asylum to those who have been in our neighborhood. But my own sense is that there are many other places that the PM may go... We cannot speculate at this point."

Agencies: Meanwhile the Bangladesh aircraft that brought former PM Sheikh Hasina along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana to India has returned to Dhaka.  Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is not on board the C-130 J transport aircraft that took off today from the Hindon air base. The Bangladesh Air Force C-130J transport aircraft is flying with 7 military personnel on it towards its base in Bangladesh. 

Hasina’s flight from Dhaka to New Delhi was coordinated by the security agencies of both India and Bangladesh. The IAF fighter jets escorted the Bangladesh Air Force’s C130J aircraft to Hindon after it entered the airspace of India.

Sheikh Hasina met India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Monday evening after landing at the Hindon Air Force base in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad - around 30 km from Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been briefed on the situation in Bangladesh by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. There is no word yet if Modi will meet Hasina.

Hasina might fly to Finland or the United Kingdom as New Delhi might not be keen to host her for long this time, unlike in 1975 when she and her sister Sheikh Rehana had been secretly flown in from Berlin after the assassination of their father and founder of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, in Dhaka. 

Assassins killed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family on August 15, 1975. However, a few days before the murder, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana went to Germany to visit Hasina’s husband M. A. Wazed Miah in Karlsruhe. As a result, the duo survived. 

They had lived at a safe house of the intelligence agencies at Pandhara Road in New Delhi for six long years as the guests of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government. Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and took the helm of Awami League.