LOOKEAST REPORT |
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia’s foreign lawyer Lord Alexander Carlisle has been deported from India on Tuesday.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) said Carlisle, a British national, arrived in New Delhi (from London) on July 11, 2018, without having obtained the appropriate Indian visa. “His intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application. It was therefore decided to deny him entry into India upon arrival,” it added. “He did not have appropriate visa and there was discrepancy in his visa application form,” said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. “We had informed him in advance that your visa is invalid.”
■ Lord Alexander Carlisle
Kumar said that Carlile already had a return boarding pass for a flight, which was scheduled for two hours later when he arrived. “Does a business visa constitute coming here and addressing a conference?” the spokesperson asked.
Mr. Carlile, a member of the House of Lords in the British parliament, who was appointed as the opposition BNP chief’s legal consultant in March, obtained a visa despite the objection. Sources said the government was alerted when he boarded the Air India flight from London to Delhi, and a decision was taken to send him back
It is unclear how Mr. Carlile, a member of the House of Lords in the British parliament, who was appointed as the opposition BNP chief’s legal consultant in March, obtained a visa despite the objection. Sources said the government was alerted when he boarded the Air India flight from London to Delhi, and a decision was taken to send him back in order to stop Mr. Carlile from meeting the press as planned, at a hotel in Delhi.
According to reports in Bangladesh media, he was scheduled to hold a press conference along with Zia’s legal team and members of the top brass of the BNP at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in Delhi.
Carlisle was expected to discuss his client Khaleda Zia’s jail sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
The Sheikh Hasina government had apparently denied him entry into Bangladesh earlier. BNP has accused India of playing a role in the “false case” against Zia.
Reports in Bangladesh media, he was scheduled to hold a press conference along with Zia’s legal team and members of the top brass of the BNP at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in Delhi. Carlisle was expected to discuss his client Khaleda Zia’s jail sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case
“Since I did not get the permission to come to Dhaka, I wanted to hold the press conference in India in order explain the complexities of Khaleda Zia’s case to the international media community,” Carlisle, a member of House of Lords, was quoted as saying.
This MEA action has given clear indication that India’s Modi government was firmly backing the Hasina regime and that the repeated efforts of the BNP to swing it in their favour has failed.
The Carlisle visit closely followed one by a high power BNP delegation led by Amir Khusrau Mahmud Chaudhary.
In February, Zia and five others, including her son Tarique Rahman, were sentenced to prison terms after being convicted of embezzling 21 million takas in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, which was established during her rule between 2001 and 2006. ■
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