NEW DELHI
New Delhi on Tuesday confirmed Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is in India after she requested approval to come to the country “for the moment.”
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, briefing the parliament, said India “received a request for flight clearance from the Bangladesh authorities,” and Hasina arrived Monday evening in Delhi.
Earlier in the day, Jaishankar chaired an all-party meeting in parliament on the situation in Bangladesh and said India wanted to give the 76-year-old time to decide about her “future course of action.”
Hasina fled Bangladesh on Monday after weeks of violent protests over quota in government jobs. The country’s military chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, in an address to the nation, said the premier had resigned and a transitional government will be formed.
Jaishankar said the government is in close and continuous touch with the “Indian community in Bangladesh through our diplomatic missions.”
“There are an estimated 19,000 Indian nationals there, of which about 9,000 are students,” he added.
The minister said India expects that the “host government will provide the required security protection” to its diplomatic missions in Bangladesh.
“Briefed an All-Party meeting in Parliament today about the ongoing developments in Bangladesh. Appreciate the unanimous support and understanding that was extended,” Jaishankar said on X.
While the Bangladeshi president dissolved the parliament, students heading the protest movement proposed Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus to lead the interim set up.
Hasina, who had been in power for 15 years, has yet to issue any statement on the events that have unfolded since Monday.
Local media said the aircraft that brought the former Bangladeshi leader to India has left the country.
