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During the previous Sheikh Hasina government's tenure, her visits to London were consistently met with such intense protests from the BNP that the Bangladesh High Commission in London struggled to secure hotel accommodations for her. On her most recent visit, an advisor to Sheikh Hasina reportedly leveraged their Indian diplomatic connections to arrange a hotel.
A former official at the Bangladesh High Commission in London, speaking anonymously, revealed that the continuous opposition protests, involving the throwing of eggs and water bottles, created an embarrassing situation for other hotel guests. Nearby businesses also lodged ongoing complaints with the relevant council, eventually making it impossible for the High Commission to arrange hotels for the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her London visits.
On May 16 of last year, the British government signed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with Bangladesh, enabling the UK to expedite the return of Bangladeshi asylum seekers whose applications have been unsuccessful. At the time, Saida Muna Tasneem, the then-Bangladeshi High Commissioner to London, issued a statement saying, "The good news is that Bangladesh is not even among the top ten countries in terms of undocumented citizens in the UK. Nevertheless, it was necessary for us to sign this Memorandum of Understanding with post-Brexit UK. Hence, this agreement was made."
However, it is understood that the then-High Commissioner was eager to hastily sign this agreement not only to appease the then-head of government, who was annoyed by the opposition protests in London, but also to instill a sense of fear among asylum seekers.
During the current visit of Bangladesh's interim government head, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a significant number of asylum seekers have also been observed among the protestors.
A former general secretary of a sub-district Chhatra League (student wing of Awami League) in Bangladesh, speaking anonymously, told this reporter that he came to the UK on a work permit visa. After its expiry, he applied to the Home Office to switch to a new visa category as an entrepreneur, but his application was rejected. Since then, he has effectively been an undocumented immigrant in Britain. However, as the Awami League government was in power at the time, and he himself was actively involved in Awami League politics, he had no opportunity to seek political asylum. Now that the Awami League is not in power, he has reapplied for political asylum. His application is currently awaiting a court hearing. His lawyer has advised him that photographs, footage, and copies of news reports featuring him or his name from the protests he participated in against the Dr. Yunus government in London will be useful for his case. For this reason, he has taken leave from work to dedicate his full time to these activities, hoping to obtain legal documents to work legally.
It is known that among past asylum applicants using various party affiliations for political asylum, there were both genuinely persecuted individuals who suffered torture and imprisonment in Bangladesh, as well as a significant number of fraudulent applicants.
Beyond these, many others, to make their applications credible, would pay money in Bangladesh to have their names included in various false police reports. They would then submit notarized English translations of these reports, or arrange for relatives to file cases against them. They concoct false stories of their homes being burned down, submitting fabricated photos and newspaper clippings as evidence to the court. They would even have new pages of obscure Bangladeshi newspapers printed with backdated false news about fictitious cases against them. In court, they would give testimonies and descriptions claiming that if they returned to Bangladesh, ruling party activists would kill them, they would face long prison sentences, and their lives would be at risk.
Subsequently, they would prepare files with copies of these false cases, documents, and newspaper clippings, translated into English and accompanied by affidavits, to apply for political asylum in Britain. To make their claims credible to British courts, they would deliberately engage in anti-Bangladesh propaganda on social media, including Facebook, using their own names or pseudonyms. This, in turn, damages the country's image abroad.
In addition to relying on asylum lawyers and networks that create fraudulent letters and documents, a record number of Bangladeshis have proactively applied for asylum in Britain in the last two years. Among them were genuinely persecuted individuals, those who had served jail time, and unemployed professionals, alongside a significant number of fraudulent applicants. Thousands of Bangladeshis have applied for asylum upon arrival at airports after coming to Britain for various workshops or on second visit visas.
These asylum seekers, in their efforts to win their cases and make their claims credible, actively participated in various political programs of the BNP and like-minded parties in the past. The objective was to collect photos and evidence of their participation in BNP programs to prove themselves as political leaders or figures. Many UK BNP leaders have also testified in British courts for their cases in the past. Now, many are joining Awami League programs.
The situation in London became such that Tarique Rahman, a top BNP leader himself, publicly instructed UK BNP four years ago to be cautious about issuing asylum letters.
Commenting on the matter, Barrister Md Iqbal Hussain, Principal Solicitor at Chancery Solicitors in London, told Daily Dazzling Dawn, "The controversial agreement to quickly repatriate rejected Bangladeshi asylum seekers during Sheikh Hasina's tenure was hastily made to appease her. This is a widely discussed topic in the community. And just as many used to affiliate with BNP solely to gain asylum, now they affiliate with Awami League for the same reason. This is an open secret."
Barrister Salah Uddin Sumon, Partner at Law Matrix Solicitors in London, added, "In the past, when the Awami League was in power, those who claimed to be BNP activists and asylum seekers would crowd the front rows of BNP's anti-Sheikh Hasina protests for photos and videos. Even now, those who claim to be Awami League activists and seek political asylum are doing the same thing. They are doing this for their personal gain."
