Bangladeshformer prime minister Sheikh Hasina is awaiting confirmation from UK about his request for political asylum after being forced to flee the country in a military helicopter due to widespread violence.
Mr. Hasina, 76, arrived next door India on Monday, moments before angry protesters stormed his residence demanding his resignation after more than two decades in the country’s politics.
Anger against the Hasina government increased following protests against a quota system in public jobs faced harsh repression by government forces, killing more than 400 people.
After landing in the northeastern Indian city of Agartala, Ms. Hasina arrived in New Delhi with her sister and requested asylum from the British government, according to CNN-News18.
However, Hasina was forced to extend her stay in New Delhi as she is yet to receive any confirmation from the UK, sources told the broadcaster.
Ms. Hasina is accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, who holds British citizenship. Rehana’s daughter, Tulip Siddiq, is a member of the British parliament for the Labor Party.
The embattled leader’s request to the United Kingdom is in limbo as British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has asked for a UNinvestigation led by deadly protests and “tragic” loss of life in Bangladesh.
Lammy said in a statement that the UK and Bangladesh have “deep people-to-people ties and share Commonwealth values”.
“All parties now need to work together to end the violence, restore calm, calm the situation and prevent further loss of life.
“The people of Bangladesh deserve a full and independent, UN-led investigation into the events of recent weeks.”
He described the violence in Bangladesh as “unprecedented” as he set out the UK’s ambition for Bangladesh to achieve a “peaceful and democratic future”.
The United Kingdom and the Indian government have not made official statements on the developments.
The protest against the quota system, which reserved a third of civil service jobs for descendants of veterans of the country’s 1971 war of independence with Pakistan, was the most severe challenge to his 15 years in power.
Protests that began in late June turned deadly after their government issued national shooting policy, imposed frequent communications blackouts and curfews across the country as students took to the streets.
The majority of the quota was reduced following last month’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of the students, but protests continued as people demanded accountability for the deaths of those killed.
On Monday, another 135 people were killed in Bangladesh in incidents of police shootings, clashes and arson, as hundreds of thousands of people took part in the march called to Dhaka by protest leaders, the report said. Dhaka Tribune.
Widespread incidents of looting, vandalism and arson have been reported in parts of the country, along with reports of increasing attacks on Hindu minorities.
The US government praised the Bangladesh Army for its “restraint” and called for an interim government that is democratic.
“The United States has long called for respect for democratic rights in Bangladesh and we urge that the formation of the interim government be democratic and inclusive. We commend the Army for the restraint it demonstrated today,” a White House spokesperson said Monday.
The EU also called for an “orderly and peaceful transition” to a new democratically elected government in the country.
Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and her allies said she would not return to politics.
“She is almost 70 years old. She is so disappointed that after all her hard work, for a minority to rise up against her, I think she is done,” her son told the BBC.
Hasina is known as the “iron lady” of Bangladesh, who spent a total of 20 years in office after first coming to power in 1996.
This is the second time she has been forced into exile in her life. She first went into exile after her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the freedom fighter who founded Bangladesh, was murdered along with her mother and three brothers in 1975.
