"We have already booked tickets of Emirates Airlines for May 6. The flight is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka at 8:30am on May 7," AL's assistant secretary for international affairs sub-committee Abdus Sobhan Golap, who is accompanying Hasina in London, told The Daily Star last night over telephone.

The former prime minister was scheduled to deliver speech on "Democracy and Human Rights in Bangladesh" at School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) as chief guest last night with Professor Werner Menski in the chair. Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies at SOAS organised the event.

The AL chief will meet Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon today (May 3) at 11:00pm Bangladesh time.

Hasina was scheduled to return home on April 26 or 27. But the caretaker government on April 18 imposed a ban on Hasina's return, saying that her presence in the country might jeopardise political stability and public security.

Following the ban, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) promptly requested all airlines operating to Dhaka not to carry the former prime minister.

The government later withdrew the restriction on April 25. Hasina left the country for USA on March 15 on a private visit to meet her son and daughter.