India plans to host Sheikh Hasina for 'as long as it takes': report

Sheikh Hasina, the former Bangladesh prime minister who fled to India on Monday, is expected to remain there for "a while" because her plans to travel to the United Kingdom face a "technical roadblock," The Indian Express reported.

Hasina plans to seek asylum or temporary refuge in the United Kingdom amid fears of political persecution in her home country.

However, as per its immigration rules, an individual can seek asylum once they are in the UK, not from outside the country.

Nevertheless, Hasina’s lack of a valid visa or diplomatic passport poses a barrier to her seeking asylum in the UK.

Even if an asylum request is made, each asylum claim is carefully considered on its individual merits on a case-by-case basis.

Meanwhile, India is drawing up plans to host Hasina, 76, at an appropriate place in the country for “as long as it takes”, if she chooses to stay, so that she has the highest level of security and there is no threat.

According to the The Indian Express, she will be staying at a “safe house”.

While she struggles with challenges surrounding her asylum, she has received full support from Delhi where there is no official asylum policy.

Despite her current unpopularity in Dhaka, India views Hasina as someone who helped “quieten” its borders between the two countries as she cracked down against “anti-India terror groups”.

Furhtermore, India was also instrumental in Hasina’s life as it is a place where she found refuge after she, along with her sister Sheikh Rehana, escaped the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the rest of her family in 1975.

New Delhi, which has been considered Hasina’s “second home”, has decided to give her time and space to make up her mind about how long she wants to stay here.