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.
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