Now ex-ambassador goes missing

Former Bangladesh ambassador to Vietnam Maroof Zaman remains missing since Monday night after he left his Dhanmondi home in his private car to pick up his daughter from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

The 61-year-old's youngest daughter Samiha Zaman was scheduled to land at the airport at 7:30pm, said Rifat Zaman, the ex-diplomat's brother.

“Around 7:30pm, he rang the land phone at his house and told the house help to allow a person to take away his laptop,” Rifat told The Daily Star last night.

Three well-dressed, tall men then entered his home and took away his laptop, desktop and camera. They also searched different drawers, he added. 

After landing at the airport, Samiha called her father, only to find his mobile unreachable. She then called Rifat and informed him that she could not reach her father over the phone. Rifat then rushed to the airport and brought her home.

As he did not return home till yesterday noon, Samiha lodged a general diary with Dhanmondi police.

Later in the evening, police found Maroof's car (Dhaka Metro Ga-21-1399) left abandoned in Khilkhet area, close to the airport.

Quoting police, Rifat said his brother was last tracked in Dakkhin Khan area, also near the airport.

“We could not trace him yet,” Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station, told The Daily Star around 9:30pm yesterday.

The incident comes on the heels of some high-profile disappearances, including that of NSU teacher Mubashar Hasan, in the last few months.  

Rifat said his brother retired as an additional secretary at the foreign ministry in September 2009. He also served as the deputy high commissioner in the UK.

He also said his brother was a little disturbed mentally after  the recent death of his wife. 

“First I thought he bumped into a car and was taken to a police station from where he would return later,” said Rifat, an electrical engineer now involved in business.

“As he did not return till morning yesterday, we were worried and finally we filed a GD,” he said. “Now I see it might be something like what we see in newspapers that people are picked up,” he added.

Asked whether Maroof has any political affiliation, Rifat said he was certainly not a pro-Awami League man. He was rather anti-Awami League, but he was not a threat to anybody. He was never active in politics.

Earlier on November 26, a Dhaka University unit leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Mujahidur Rahman disappeared after leaving his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar home in the capital.

He is a master's student of Political Science and senior joint secretary of Salimullah Muslim Hall unit of the pro-BNP student body. 

His wife Kamrunnahar Lucky filed a GD with Sher-e-Bangla police on November 29.

With Maroof and Mujahidur, 14 people including the NSU teacher, a journalist and a number of businessmen, went missing, in recent months. Four of them returned while there is no trace of others.