Google Alert – Bangladesh Army
The Indian government, on the morning of August 5 last year, was under the impression that Sheikh Hasina would overcome the crisis; it could not realise that she would become a semi-permanent guest when the deposed prime minister arrived later that day, reported BBC Bangla yesterday.
Although Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and Home Minister Amit Shah had been briefed by intelligence officials that Hasina was facing the most formidable political challenge of her career, they were assured that she would weather the storm.
The events that ultimately unfolded on August 5 last year caught Indian government officials off guard, claimed BBC Bangla.
It reported that during what is believed to have been the final conversation over the hotline, likely on August 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then premier Hasina did not discuss the possibility of her seeking refuge in India.
The report said although Indian officials were aware that the ongoing protests in Bangladesh carried a distinct anti-India sentiment, the scale of hostility came as a shock after the vandalism of the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka.
Besides, majority of staffers at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, along with their family members, had been flown out on commercial flights to Kolkata or Delhi.
According to BBC Bangla, in the days before August 5, the army chiefs of Bangladesh and India, General Waker-Uz-Zaman and General Upendra Dwivedi, had been in “constant communication.”
While the deployment of Indian troops on Bangladeshi soil was never under consideration, the report stated that Delhi had conveyed its willingness to provide all other support.
The report noted that shortly after noon on August 5, two successive phone calls from Dhaka were received in New Delhi, an incident later confirmed in parliament by Jaishankar.
The first call came from the office of Hasina, who spoke directly.
Although Jaishankar did not reveal the identity of who was on the other end, BBC Bangla noted that as per the protocol, communication generally occurs between the heads of governments in such a situation.
By then, India learnt that Hasina had decided to resign after a meeting with the country’s security forces.
In the call to Delhi, she requested temporary refuge in India, and the request was immediately granted.
The report noted that a second call was made. The Bangladesh Air Force called the commander of Indian Air Force in New Delhi. It was a request for clearance to land a military aircraft carrying Hasina at a designated Indian airbase.
The request was approved without delay, according to BBC Bangla.
BBC Bangla reported that the Bangladesh Army requested India to send an aircraft to take Hasina from Dhaka but India’s political and military leadership declined.
India maintained that if Hasina were to go to India, she would need to use a Bangladeshi aircraft or helicopter.
Delhi indicated that, in the case of a helicopter, she could be flown to a nearby location such as Kolkata or Agartala. It was also conveyed that once a mode of transport had been finalised, Bangladesh’s military would be required to formally request landing clearance.
Accordingly, Bangladesh Air Force prepared a C 130 military transport aircraft to carry Hasina and her entourage.
The report said when India formally granted permission for Hasina to enter the country on the afternoon of August 5, it assumed that she would have a stopover en route to a third country.
This prompted Indian authorities to instruct the Bangladesh Air Force’s C130 transport aircraft to stay overnight at Hindon airbase.
Sources at the Indian home ministry told BBC that Hasina would be heading to the UK.
The report added that through its High Commission in Delhi, the British government, led by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, informed the Indian authorities that it was not in a position to receive Hasina then.
Since the evening of August 5, 2024, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval took on the role of Hasina’s unofficial guardian in India.
The report stated that whenever India extends refuge to a high-profile political figure from abroad, its security agencies typically conduct a series of structured debriefing sessions.
A similar protocol was followed over six decades ago for the Dalai Lama, and, according to BBC Bangla, comparable sessions have reportedly been held for Hasina, some of them personally led by Doval.