Four university students remain missing since they were allegedly picked up by plainclothes men in the capital's Farmgate area on Saturday, the day before national election.

Their families yesterday held a press conference at Crime Reporters' Association Bangladesh, demanding safe return of the youths.

The missing are: Abu Khaled Mohammad Jabed, 25, a third year student of Bangla at Asian University; Borhan Uddin, 26, English student at Stamford University; Rezaul Khalek, 24, final year student of Pharmacy at Manarat University; and Syed Maminul Hasan, 27, former student of a Unani Ayurvedic Medical College.

“We are very anxious about their fate, as we have been out of contact with them for two days,” said Jabed's brother-in-law Yeasin Karim at the press conference.

He urged law enforcers to rescue the youths or to produce them before the court if they were detained for any crime.

Some plainclothes men identifying themselves as law enforcers dragged them out of a bus in Farmgate on their way home in Mirpur-1 after shopping at Aziz Super Market, Yeasin said quoting a friend of theirs who was also in the bus but escaped detention.

“We contacted local police stations and other wings of law enforcement agencies but all denied picking Jabed up,” he said.

The families drew attention of national and international human rights organisations to be vocal for their release.

Contacted, Abdul Baten, additional commissioner (detectives) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said they did not detain the youths.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, Rab's Legal and Media wing director also said they did not carry out any drive in Farmgate on that day.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, who declared himself the leader of the opposition in parliament, now wants the status of a deputy prime minister. But such a post does not exist.

The leader of the opposition now enjoys the status of a minister. If it is to be given the deputy prime minister's status, the constitution first needs to be amended to create the post.

“I will request the new government to formulate a law to upgrade the post of the opposition leader to deputy prime minister. I will place the proposal in parliament. I will also speak to the Speaker [of parliament] in this regard,” he said, while talking to reporters after taking oath as an MP at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered the oath at her office in parliament yesterday.

Ershad has been elected MP from Rangpur-3.

Twenty-two JP MPs-elect, except Ershad, took the oath as lawmakers of the 11th parliament on January 3. The JP chief could not take the oath due to illness.

After taking the oath yesterday, Ershad went to the room designated for the leader of the opposition at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

Sitting on the chair of the opposition leader, he told reporters that he was proud of taking oath as the opposition leader.

The former military ruler said he would request the government to elect the deputy speaker from the opposition MPs.

Ershad, who grabbed the state power in March 1982 by ousting the elected government of President Justice Abdus Sattar, said he would also request the government to upgrade the post of the opposition whip.

He said he would also urge the government to appoint more opposition MPs as chiefs of different parliamentary standing committees.

“We want to play the role of a strong opposition party in parliament. We will play our role following the rules of procedure in parliament. We will not boycott the parliament like the previous opposition parties,” he said.

JP Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga told reporters that Ershad would be the first male in the last 27 to act as the leader of the opposition.

Just a day after the JP Parliamentary Party decided to join the Awami League-led grand alliance government, Ershad on January 4 came up with a completely opposite decision.

The JP chairman in a statement announced that his party would be the main opposition in parliament with no representation in the new cabinet.

Ershad, who was forced to step down from the president post following a mass movement in December 1990, also announced that he would act as the leader of the opposition and his younger brother and JP co-chairman GM Quader would be the deputy leader of the opposition.

Talking to this newspaper, several JP lawmakers termed Ershad's decision funny and arbitrary.

Earlier on January 3, JP Parliamentary Party unanimously decided that since JP contested the election under the banner of the AL-led grand alliance, they would join the government.

Sources at the Parliament Secretariat said Speaker Shirin Sharmin has yet to take measures to recognise Ershad as the opposition leader.

Ershad's wife, Raushan Ershad, was the leader of the opposition in the 10th parliament.

In the December 30 polls, the AL-led grand alliance secured 288 seats. JP, a key component of the alliance, bagged 22.

The BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront managed to win only seven seats, while independent candidates got three.

The election in Gaibandha-3 was rescheduled for January 27 following the death of a candidate, and re-polling will take place at three centres in Brahmanbaria-2 on January 9.

The JP became the main opposition in the 10th parliament formed after the 2014 election, which was boycotted by the BNP-led alliance.

The JP in that election won 34 seats and its senior leader Raushan Ershad was recognised as the leader of the opposition. Three JP MPs were also made ministers.

Their dual role has been criticised. The party could not play its due role as the main opposition in parliament in the last five years.

The national election of December 30 has turned the life of Mofiz Uddin upside down -- and all for supporting BNP.

From a decent tea-shop vendor at Rabeya market of Bonkishore village in Rajshahi's Tanore upazila, the 48-year old man now works on a potato field.

“I have been a dedicated BNP worker since the 90s,” Mofiz said. “If I have committed a crime, it would be my engagement with BNP.”

In a tin-roofed earthen room under a Koroi tree at the market, Mofiz started the shop and ran it for over the last 20 years.

Furnished with a television, eight chairs, five tables, four benches and a few racks of bakery items, sweets and groceries, his tea-shop fetched him around Tk 3,000 a day to support his family of seven.

On December 21, Mofiz joined the election campaign for BNP candidate Aminul Haq when the latter went to Pachondor union.

Later that evening, a group of stick wielding men went to the market and ransacked the outside of his tea-shop, according to eye-witnesses.

“The attackers were outsiders, not known to me,” said a local businessman.

“I heard about the attack on my shop when I reached home, after campaigning that day,” said Mofiz. A friend of his called him from the market and told him to hide as the attackers were looking for him.

Until polls day, local AL men used the tea-shop as the election office of Awami League candidate Omor Faruk Chowdhury.

“Two days after the election ended, some local AL workers damaged what was left of the shop, including the earthen room, tin-roof, furniture, television, and everything else inside.”

Locals told this correspondent that they heard the AL men would build a party office in that place.

When contacted, Reaz Uddin, president of AL unit at Pachondor ward-2, said, “We are yet to decide on building our office there. If not an office, we may construct a passengers' shed that will come to the use of many.”

He said the land was 'khas' and Mofiz had been illegally occupying it.

On the identity of the attackers, he said, “Nobody knows them. They were wearing helmets and came to the village on motorcycles.”

He denied that it was local AL men who had damaged the shop after the election.

“It was Mofiz's brother, nephew and son who damaged the shop,” he said. On why Mofiz's own relatives would damage the shop, Reaz did not have an explanation.

When contacted, Rajshahi Superintendent of Police Md Shahidullah said they had not heard about the incident.

“We will investigate all allegations of post-election violence,” said the SP, adding that police circulated a message in the district so that no one would spread fear among others over feuds during the election.

Upon losing his source of income, Mofiz began work as day labourer on the potato fields to make ends meet, earning a mere Tk 300 a day.

“I am living in fear. I could not even go see the condition of my shop, the one I so dearly built from scratch,” he said.