‘Hasina lands in India, NSA Doval meets her’

New Delhi: Embattled and ousted Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, fled Dhaka on Monday and landed at Hindon air base in Ghaziabad on the outskirts of the national capital. This followed weeks of deadly and unprecedented protests that began last month over a job quota system for family members of veterans from the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war against Pakistan.

The protests swelled and took shape as a wider anti-government movement across the country. The participation of youth, civil society groups, and students turned violent, resulting in nearly 300 deaths, mostly among students, in clashes with the police.

In a day marked by rapid developments and widespread uncertainty in Bangladesh, 76-year-old Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had served four terms, stepped down from her position. She was escorted to a military airbase in Dhaka, from where she departed for India after requesting safe passage and permission to enter Indian airspace, according to reliable sources.

A Bangladesh Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft, carrying Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, touched down at the Indian Air Force base in Hindon, Ghaziabad. Upon arrival, Hasina reportedly met with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for approximately an hour.

Sources indicate that Hasina has been moved to an undisclosed secure location, as it appears unlikely she will leave India on Monday night. While her original intention was to travel to London, unforeseen issues have introduced some uncertainty to her plans.

The Indian government has yet to issue an official statement regarding the events unfolding in Bangladesh. It is anticipated that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will address the situation in Parliament on Tuesday.

In a related development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called an emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) at his New Delhi residence on Monday evening. The high-level meeting brought together key ministers and top security officials to discuss India’s security policy and response to the evolving situation.

The meeting was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

During her stay in India, Hasina is expected to meet with her daughter, Saima Wazed, who is based in Delhi and serves as the World Health Organization’s regional director for South-East Asia.

It’s worth noting that there has been no official confirmation of Hasina’s arrival in Delhi or her meeting with the NSA.

As a rapidly changing scenario and an air of uncertainty hung over Bangladesh, Modi was briefed about the situation by Jaishankar. Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also met Jaishankar on the sidelines of the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament. The two leaders discussed the situation in Bangladesh, according to sources in the Congress.

As weeks of turmoil and protests rocked Bangladesh, India carefully commented that it was an internal matter. For the moment, India is keeping a close watch on the situation in Bangladesh and will have to tread carefully and cautiously as the Army prepares to install an interim government after talking to all stakeholders in Bangladesh.

India has kept its border guarding force, Border Security Force (BSF), in a state of high alert as the country shares a nearly 4,000 km-long border with Bangladesh across half a dozen states. The Railways, Air India, and IndiGo have cancelled trains and flights.

The situation unfolding in Bangladesh has caused a setback for India as the country is facing a tough situation in its neighbourhood, be it instability in Pakistan, ethnic insurgencies in Myanmar, or the four-year-old border standoff with China.