LONDON, Aug 8 : The UK remains in contact with India to “monitor and respond” to the events in Bangladesh, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Thursday following a phone call between the foreign ministers of the two countries.
It came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a statement on social media that his UK counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, called him on Wednesday during which the pair “discussed the situation in Bangladesh and West Asia”.
FCDO sources only confirmed that the call took place without shedding any further light on deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s rumoured London travel plans.
“The UK government remains in contact with the government of India and other partners in the region to monitor and respond to the latest events in Bangladesh,” a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
Concerning further details, the ministry pointed to Lammy’s statement from earlier this week calling for a “full and independent UN-led investigation into the events of the past few weeks”.
There is ongoing speculation over Hasina’s plans after the ousted Bangladeshi leader fled violent clashes in Dhaka to India, where she is believed to be at a safe house in Delhi.
“At very short notice she requested approval to come for the moment to India. We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance from Bangladesh authorities,” Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha this week.
London is believed to be the preferred final destination of Hasina, whose niece – Tulip Siddiq, the daughter of UK passport holder Sheikh Rehana – is based in north London as a Labour Party member of parliament from Hampstead and Highgate and junior minister in the Treasury Department.
However, UK government sources have cast doubts around the prospect of a passage to England for political asylum, with officials pointing out that it is not possible to apply for asylum from outside the UK.
The sources said each asylum claim is carefully considered on its merits on a case-by-case basis and that the UK has a “proud record” of protecting people who need it, Home Office sources cited the Immigration Rules, which do not have a provision for someone to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge.
Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety, the sources said.
Strategic experts believe the situation is a complicated one for the UK, which has previously offered Hasina’s late father – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – refuge on his release from a Pakistani jail in January 1972 following the country’s freedom struggle.
One possible solution would be to offer Sheikh Hasina leave to enter the UK where she could live in so-called self-imposed exile.
However, the optics of such a move could prove tricky with a niece serving as a government minister.
Student-led protests in Bangladesh started last month against a controversial job quota scheme and turned into violent anti-government agitation, which ultimately ended in the downfall of the Awami League regime.
A new caretaker government under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has now been brought in amid the turmoil that left more than 200 persons dead. (PTI)
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