Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s travel plans have hit a roadblock due to certain “uncertainties” and she is unlikely to move out of India for the next couple of days, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday (August 6). Hasina arrived in India’s Hindon airbase yesterday evening, hours after stepping down as the prime minister following massive violent protests, and was shifted to an unspecified location that has been put under tight security, they added.
She was initially set to travel to London from New Delhi, but is now contemplating other options after the British government indicated that she may not get legal protection in the UK against any possible investigation, they said.
The Awami League leader had planned to travel to London through India and her aides informed Indian authorities about it before she landed in Hindon, the people cited above said.
What did the UK say?
In a statement, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in London on Monday that Bangladesh has witnessed unprecedented levels of violence and tragic loss of life in the last few weeks, and the people of the Asian country “deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events”.
While saying that Hasina's travel plans have hit certain issues and she may stay in the country for the next couple of days, the people in the know also described the situation as dynamic with no definitive path or clarity on the matter.
Bangladesh protests
Hasina ruled the country with a iron fist for 15 years and resigned as the prime minister after massive protests which initially began as an agitation against a job quota scheme but weeks later morphed into a mass movement demanding her ouster from power. The controversial quota system provided for 30 per cent reservations in civil services jobs for the families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war.
Hasina’s party Awami League retained power in the parliamentary election in January this year, which was boycotted by the Opposition parties.
Hasina, accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana, had left her official residence 'Ganabhavan' in a military chopper to an airbase, the sources said. From the airbase, she flew into Hindon in a C-130 military transport aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force, they said.
(With PTI inputs)
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