UK Mum on Sheikh Hasina’s Asylum, Wants UN-Led Probe Into Bangladesh Crisis

The British Government is still silent on the issue of providing asylum to Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is now in India after leaving her country after resignation.

The UK government made no official comment on reports of Hasina seeking political asylum in the UK, with Home Office sources only indicating that the country’s immigration rules did not specifically allow individuals to travel to the UK to seek asylum.

The situation was a complicated one for the UK regarding the issue of providing political asylum to Hasina. Decades back, UK had offered Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, refuge on his release from a Pakistani jail in January 1972.

The UK government has called for a United Nations-led investigation into the violent incidents during past weeks in Bangladesh, which led to resignation of Hasina.

The UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy issued a statement on Monday to condemn the “unprecedented levels of violence and tragic loss of life” over the last two weeks in Bangladesh and said the UK wanted to see action towards a democratic future for the country.