BNP leader M Ilias Ali, who went missing from Dhaka city’s Banani area four years ago. Star file photo

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today expressed hope that the government would take steps immediately to trace missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali.

Meeting the family members of Ilias Ali, who went missing from the city’s Banani area, Fakrul expressed optimism that the government would “return” Ilias Ali to his family members.

The BNP secretary general expressed grave disappointment over failure of the authorities concerned to find out the BNP leader even after four years of his disappearance.

Fakhrul said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given Ilias’s wife a word that she would help trace her missing husband.  

“Wife and children of Alias Ali are still counting days waiting to get back their father among them,” Fakhrul said. BNP believes that Ilias Ali can be traced if the government takes necessary steps, he added.

BNP’s Organising Secretary Ilias Ali, also a former lawmaker from Sylhet, went missing from the capital's Banani area around midnight in April 17, 2012.