Indian PM Modi chairs key meet over Bangladesh unrest

The Indian Cabinet Committee on Security met at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official residence yesterday evening amid the turmoil in Bangladesh.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present in the meeting.

Separately, PM Modi was also briefed on the situation in Bangladesh by S Jaishankar. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has also spoken to Jaishankar.

Hasina, who first came to power in 2009, had sought to quell nationwide protests against her government since early July but she fled the country after brutal unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed.

Bangladesh's army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Hasina, 76, had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government.

Sheikh Hasina's plane - a Bangladesh Air Force C-130 military transport - landed at an airbase near Delhi yesterday evening.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called on the former prime minister.

She is expected to leave for London later, sources told NDTV, where she may seek political asylum.

Hasina, who won a fifth term as prime minister in January, may not return to politics, her US-based son and former Chief Advisor Sajeeb Wajed Joy has told BBC's World Service's Newshour program.

Disappointed by the strong public sentiment against her government despite her efforts to transform the country, she has decided to quit, he told BBC.