Sheikh Hasina’s Asylum: Why Is the UK Hesitant to Accept Bangladesh’s Former PM? | Exclusive Chat

2 months ago

As Sheikh Hasina Continues to stay in India, questions are looming over her future. We talked today with Senior Journalist Nabanita Sircar from London discusses Sheikh Hasina’s struggle to gain entry to the UK despite her sister's citizenship, questioning why Hasina is denied while others with human rights issues have entered. She also explores alternative options if the UK rejects Hasina, including moving to Finland or the U.S., where her extended family resides, or leveraging India's support as she currently remains there.

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Transcript

00:00Hello there, this is me Ansh Pandey and you are watching One India English.

00:04Viewers, for the last 3-4 days, the South Asian politics has seen some unprecedented

00:11events that are quite not welcoming, at least for India too.

00:16We are talking about Bangladesh and Sheikh Hasina.

00:20The former Prime Minister is now ousted and right now she is in India, staying at the

00:25hidden airbase.

00:27But what's going to be next for her, no one knows as of now.

00:31Why do we say so?

00:32Well, the asylum, she is seeking asylum in the United Kingdom but it looks like that

00:38there are some loggerheads right now that are not coming to the conclusion and so she

00:45stays in India and she is not still moving out of her safe house.

00:51To talk about the matter that why is she not getting the asylum in the United Kingdom,

00:56we have got Navneeta Sarkar, a senior journalist straight from London to talk with us.

01:01Navneeta ma'am, welcome for this special interview ma'am.

01:04Hello.

01:05Yes ma'am.

01:06Navneeta ma'am, my first question is quite a direct one.

01:13Why Sheikh Hasina is not getting the approval to enter the United Kingdom despite the fact

01:18that his sister Sheikh Rihanna is a citizen of the United Kingdom?

01:24Yes, I agree with you, she is a citizen of the United Kingdom but it does not work like

01:31this because it is the asylum seekers, it's under the international conventions and under

01:39the Refugee Act.

01:41So they have to analyse and if you remember on the 5th of August, the Foreign Secretary

01:47of the UK, David Lammy, made a statement and I have that right here in front of me

01:54and I shall give you a bit of what he actually said.

02:00He was very clear that the UK wants to see action taken to ensure Bangladesh a peaceful

02:08and democratic future and he is basically wanting a UN-led, he said the people of Bangladesh

02:15deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events of the past few weeks.

02:20Okay and asylum is a longer process and apart from Rihanna, Sheikh Hasina's niece, Tulip

02:29Sadiq, who is actually the MP from my constituency of Hampstead and Highgate, so she is also

02:36the Labour MP from there but there has been no word other than the 5th of August statement

02:43from David Lammy on any news that she's applied for asylum in the UK or she's in talks, there

02:51is absolutely zero news.

02:54I'm sure something would have come out or there would have been an official statement

02:57if she had applied but don't forget one thing that I think on the sometime around mid-July

03:05when the tension in Bangladesh was very high, there was a midnight clash in the Whitechapel

03:14area of London which is dominated by Bangladeshis, there was a midnight clash between two groups

03:20of Bangladeshis and cars were set on fire etc.

03:24So you've had the fallout of that has been seen here, only one incident and the control

03:30of it but you know the UK has to consider its internal situation also.

03:37Okay, ma'am as you stated about that, human rights and other freedom aspects are also

03:44some things that could be a major concern for the United Kingdom but ma'am there are

03:50also some prominent names that have some violation, they have the allegations of human rights

03:56violations and even tax fraud, if you take some names, Lalit Modi, Nawaz Sharif and even

04:02Vijay Mallya for that instance, despite all that, Lamy may be saying that he means a uniform,

04:09these guys have got an asylum, they're in the United Kingdom but not Haseena, what's

04:15your take?

04:16What could be the exact reason behind that?

04:18I don't think it is a decision that is taken in such a hurry, even it will have to go through

04:25the process of even if it's granted asylum, they have to see whether she's safe in her

04:30country, they have to see and they were wanting and everybody around the world, I think has

04:35wanted a restoration of democracy.

04:39Now that the new government has been formed in Bangladesh, I think one has to look at

04:45how this kind of pans out and the UK right now is facing its own riots by racist thugs

04:58and so UK has a lot on its plate and it has to be very sensitive to taking that decision

05:04at this point in time because every night we're experiencing severe not protests, all

05:16attempts of riots but the police is on it, immediate justice is being delivered by the

05:22courts so it might calm down.

05:24So UK itself is going through a very difficult situation at the moment.

05:30We saw in UK, from Birmingham to London, I think it's almost in every city there that

05:36anti-racist and then the racist, those two factions are fighting with each other.

05:43In such a scenario ma'am, if UK doesn't give entry to Sheikh Haseena, what other options

05:48does she have?

05:49Do you see her moving to other family related countries like Finland or the United States

05:55or do you think India may play some role here?

06:00Listen, India needs to play a very strong role in what is going on in Bangladesh.

06:06India needs to stand by the people of Bangladesh and because India's always had a very pivotal

06:13role in the destiny of Bangladesh and it is unfortunate that India missed out on what

06:20was going on during the riots.

06:22How was it not that this kind of a situation would happen and they could have used some

06:28diplomatic pressure on Sheikh Haseena to back off from her, you know, the way things were

06:33going on over there in Bangladesh.

06:35But that's past now.

06:37The point is there are all kinds of rumors coming out of India.

06:41I noticed that she might go to Belarus, she might go to Finland.

06:45I don't know.

06:46I mean, these are all rumors.

06:48There is nothing that has come out in the media over here because it's a very aware

06:55media and I'm sure if there was anything going on, we would have come to know something.

07:00There would have been some kind of a, you know, reportage.

07:03But there has been no reporting.

07:05I checked all the media of UK.

07:07There has been absolutely no report of except in one newspaper just saying that many have

07:14claimed that she might seek asylum in the UK.

07:18Yes, she does have family.

07:19As I said, her niece is an MP, is a Labour MP.

07:24So I don't know if conversation is going on there.

07:28But as I said, because UK itself is going through its own problems at the moment, how

07:32quickly can they take that decision?

07:34And in this kind of an atmosphere, what the decision will be.

07:38But UK has always been very liberal and has followed the European Convention and the Refugee

07:45International Refugee Act.

07:48So it has given asylum to several people.

07:51But whether it will go into court and then it will happen, I don't know.

07:56I mean, it's a very difficult thing right now to say because I haven't heard of any

08:00court notifications or anything of the sort.

08:03So it is best that her lawyers, I think her son had said just after she had gone to India

08:08or the day she was flying to India that, yes, she's the grandmother of my children and she

08:14can come and stay here.

08:15So I don't know.

08:16And he's in the US.

08:18Yes, he stated that.

08:19Yes, he stated that.

08:20He stated that.

08:21As you stated, final and most important question, if all these attempts fail and she doesn't

08:30find the asylum that she's seeking, what do you believe that will she go back to Bangladesh

08:36or will she stay in India?

08:39Taking the matter of internal security, will India allow that?

08:44See India has already allowed her in.

08:47Don't forget that.

08:48And so she is on Indian soil.

08:52So India can't just throw her out.

08:54It's not going to be a quick process that, oh, yeah, we let you come in now, please get

08:59out.

09:00That's not going to happen.

09:01And Bangladesh, I think it'll take a while.

09:03It's not going to be an overnight change of, you know, situations in Bangladesh.

09:09It will take a while before any peace and order is restored.

09:13Plus, this is a caretaker government.

09:15So again, I mean, I'm going to know about her through what her son says, that Sheikh

09:21Hasina will return to Bangladesh.

09:23That's his latest.

09:24I mean, he's been changing his statements.

09:26Yeah.

09:27Yeah.

09:28Yeah.

09:29So one doesn't know what is playing out in Bangladesh and but India can't throw her out

09:34unless she gets asylum somewhere else.

09:37Yeah.

09:38That would be against the international conventions because she's on Indian soil.

09:44Okay.

09:45Naveen, thank you for this interview.

09:48And we all needed a little clarity that what exactly is happening behind the back doors

09:54and what exactly is happening between UK.

09:57I think no one could have been more better than you for all of this.

10:00And so that's why this interview was more than necessary.

10:04And by the way, I when she was in exile last in the early 2000s or something, I had interviewed

10:12her in her house in London.

10:14I had a long conversation and a long interview with her when she was exiled then.

10:19Yeah.

10:20Okay.

10:21Okay.

10:22Looks like we'll have to see if she goes back there.

10:26Probably.

10:27Yes.

10:28Well, thank you for this interview.

10:31We hope to talk more on this development as the situation goes on.

10:36But for now, this is the interview.

10:38Thank you once again.

10:39Once again.

10:45Don't miss out.

10:46Follow One India for real time updates.

Sheikh Hasina’s Asylum: Why Is the UK Hesitant to Accept Bangladesh’s Former PM? | Exclusive Chat

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