by Richard Sanders
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina traveled to India on Monday, RT sources in the Indian government have confirmed. Violent mass protests in her home country forced the official to tender her resignation and flee.
A C-130 Hercules transport plane carrying Hasina landed at the Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, RT was told. The Indian Air Force has tracked the flight from Bangladesh and has parked the plane at a hangar suitable for such large aircraft.
Hasina’s residence in the capital Dhaka was stormed by angry protesters, after news of her departure from Bangladesh became public. A military government has declared itself temporarily in charge of the country.
The now-former head of the government intends to move on to London, according to Indian media.
Indian officials are taking precautions over the violence in Bangladesh. Travel with the neighboring country has been suspended by Indian rail services and airlines, while the national border guard is beefing up security along the border.
Police in New Delhi have ramped up patrols around the High Commission of Bangladesh, the country’s embassy in India. There were concerns that the building located in the diplomatic district of Chanakyapuri could be targeted, after the ex-prime minister fled to India.
Protesters in Bangladesh were demanding the abolishment of a discriminatory employment law, which allocates quotas in the civil service to descendants of people who personally participated in the 1971 war for national independence against what was then known as East Pakistan.
Some 300 people have been killed in the clashes, with over 90 lives lost last Sunday, according to media estimates.