UK's Keir Starmer plays it safe on Sheikh Hasina’s asylum request

The UK Home Office has stated that British immigration rules do not allow individuals to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge.

This clarification came on Tuesday morning, 6 August, amid ongoing speculation that Sheikh Hasina, the ousted PM of Bangladesh who has currently sought safe haven in Delhi, might fly to London to claim sanctuary there, reported NDTV.

Hasina, 76, has been seeking asylum in the UK. She left Bangladesh following month-long massive and deadly anti-government protests across the country.

The Home Office, which is led by new UK prime minister Keir Starmer, emphasised that individuals seeking asylum must do so in the "first safe country they reach."

A spokesperson for the UK Home Office told NDTV, "The UK has a proud record of providing protection for people who need it. However, there is no provision for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge."

Despite this, sources suggest that a formal asylum request for Sheikh Hasina is currently being processed, added the report.

Sheikh Hasina stepped out of Bangladesh — and off the prime minister's chair — on Monday evening, 5 August, after weeks of violent protests over a job quota system. In the face of citizens defying curfew to storm the streets, she fled Dhaka in a military aircraft and landed in India.

Hasina departed Dhaka with her sister, Sheikh Rehana, around 2:30 p.m. on Monday aboard a Bangladesh Air Force C130J aircraft. Rehana, a UK citizen herself, landed with Hasina at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Hindon, Ghaziabad, near Delhi, in the early evening. Notably, Rehana's daughter, Tulip Siddiq, is a British Parliament member for the Labour Party — Starmer's party — reported Firstpost.

“She requested approval at very short notice, and we received a flight clearance request from Bangladesh. She arrived in Delhi yesterday evening,” said Union external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar about Hasina's urgent request to visit India.