Salahuddin needs govt’s ‘humane attitude’: BNP

Salahuddin,54, who identified himself as a Bangladeshi national, a state minister in the erstwhile Khaleda Zia-led BNP government, was found allegedly "hanging around aimlessly" by some people in Shillong on Monday morning. Photo: STAR

BNP today urged the government to show a “humane attitude” towards Salahuddin Ahmed by assisting his family to bring him back home safely from India instead of doing “foul” politics over his missing.

The party also said they should not make any comment on the issue until they come to know the real picture of the incident.

“We’re not silent. Salahuddin is now at a place in the northern Meghalaya state of India which has no good communication network with Bangladesh,” BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon said at a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.

“Before talking about him, at first we need to know his actual condition and to communicate with him. We are yet to contact him.”

BNP Joint Secretary General M Shahjahan in the briefing said the party is very happy that Salahuddin has been traced after over two months of his disappearance from an Uttara house.

But, he added, they are observing that some cruel and inhuman remarks are being made by the ruling party leaders over his disappearance and trace. It’s very much unfortunate.

He further said, “We want to ask the government to take proper steps and extend cooperation to Salahuddin Ahmed’s family to get him back to them. We expect humane and kind attitude from the government instead of cruel comments in this regard.”

Salahuddin, 54, who identified himself as a Bangladeshi national, a state minister in the erstwhile Khaleda Zia-led BNP government, was found allegedly "hanging around aimlessly" by some people in Shillong on Monday morning, according to the Meghalaya police and Indian media.  

Meghalaya police on Monday arrested him on charge of trespass under the Foreigners Act since he had no travel documents.

The next day, Salahuddin’s wife told the Bangladesh media that her husband phoned her from Meghalaya Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Science (MIMHANS).  

BNP and Salahuddin's family members had been claiming that law enforcers picked him up from a house at Uttara on the night of March 10, an allegation denied by the law enforcers and the government.

In the briefing, Shahjahan lamented that the ruling party men are doing dirty politics on Salahuddin issue.