BNP keeps mum over Salahuddin

Mystery remains over how and when BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed landed in Shillong, the capital of the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, after having gone missing for around two months.

Even there is no clear answer to if someone left him there or he himself trespassed into the Indian territory. 

The BNP and Salahuddin's family members kept mum on the issue since his wife Hasina Ahmed on Tuesday informed the media that her husband was in Shillong and receiving treatment at a hospital there. 

No BNP leaders, including Chairperson Khaleda Zia and its spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon, would make any comment on the issue. Earlier, Ripon on several occasions blamed the government and law enforcement agencies, particularly the Rapid Action Battalion, for picking up Salahuddin from a house in the capital's Uttara. 

Insiders said the party chief's main focus now was the safe return of Salahuddin.

“That's why the party leaders or Salahuddin's family members don't want to comment on it, no matter how much the government blames the BNP for his disappearance,” said a standing committee member of the party.

Even three days before knowing the whereabouts of Salahuddin, Khaleda at a meeting with pro-BNP lawyers categorically claimed that the Rab picked up the former state minister. She warned the government that it would face dire consequences if the BNP leader was not found. 

Khaleda on Tuesday night spoke at a programme at her Gulshan office in presence of journalists, but did not say anything on the reappearance of Salahuddin. 

The BNP chief last night in a press release blasted the government and law enforcement agencies for “repressing opposition leaders”.

The release didn't mention anything on tracing the missing BNP leader. 

Ripon, also the BNP's international affairs secretary, yesterday at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office refused to make any comment on the issue. 

“We will speak up at the right time on the government's propaganda that Salahuddin Ahmed had hid himself,” he told newsmen. 

Hasina Ahmed in the last two days refused to tell anything to reporters about his husband's reappearance. Earlier, she blamed law enforcers for picking up Salahuddin.