Requested At Very Short Notice”: S Jaishankar On Sheikh Hasina’s India Move

New Delhi: 

Sheikh Hasina requested permission “at very short notice” to come to India following her forced resignation as Bangladesh Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Tuesday.

Briefing Parliament on the “still evolving” Bangladesh situation, India’s response, and the status of an estimated 19,000 nationals in that country, Mr Jaishankar said the government is in “close and continuous touch” with the Indian community and called on the host nation to provide required security.

Mr Jaishankar, who briefed leaders at an all-party meet this morning, at which he said the government will give Mrs Hasina time to decide her next step, said he sought House’s “understanding and support”.

On August 4 (protests in Bangladesh) took a very serious turn. Attacks on police, including police stations and government installations, intensified even as overall levels of violence escalated and properties of individuals associated with the regime were torched. What was worrying was that minorities and their businesses and temples also came under attack at multiple locations.”

“On August 5 demonstrators converged in Dhaka despite a curfew. Our understanding is that after a meeting with leaders of the security establishment Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the decision to resign. At very short notice she requested approval to come, for the moment, to India. We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance… she arrived yesterday evening in Delhi.”

He also referred to an address by Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman – made Monday evening, shortly after Mrs Hasina stepped down – in which he said, “I have met opposition leaders… we have decided to form an interim government…” and appealed for the violent protests to end.