AL leader still traceless

An Awami League Leader (AL) and a BNP leader of Chittagong were picked up in a span of 13 days. However, the BNP leader was released after 17 hours but no trace of the AL leader has been found yet.

BNP Chittagong north district unit vice president Sheikh Mohammad Mohiuddin was picked up by some men, who introduced themselves as members of the Detective Branch (DB) of police, from a bus counter in the capital's Arambagh on Tuesday night.

While talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Mohiuddin said “the DB men” took him to their office on Minto Road in a microbus.

“They kept me in a room where I had to spend the whole night sitting on a chair. The next day, I was taken to an officer who asked me whether BNP was planning for creating anarchy throughout the country, and whether I was accused in any case.”

“BNP does not believe in politics of anarchy… We believe in democratic value and norms. And there is no case against me in any police station,” he replied.

“Then, they released me in the afternoon,” he said, adding, “They did not misbehave with me.”

Mohiuddin said he went to Dhaka to visit his ill father-in-law in a hospital. He also met BNP secretary general during his visit to Dhaka.

On May 12 evening, Nur Nabi Mamun, 33, general secretary of AL Urir Char unit in Sandwip upazila, was picked up by some 15 unknown people in two microbuses near a shrine in Noakhali.

Police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members said law-enforcers “did not pick up Mamun”.

Mamun went to Padua Nazimia Darbar Sharif at Norottom union to attend an Urs Mahfil ( a religious ceremony) on May 11, said his family.

Mamun's wife, Bobby, with her 13-month-old baby is passing days in uncertainty and anxiety.

“I don't understand why my husband was kidnapped, who did it and what do they want,” she told The Daily Star, adding that none asked them for ransom.

“My daughter is continuously crying to see her father… I cannot soothe her anymore,” she said, adding, “Whom shall I go to for my husband's rescue?”

Mamun's sister Selina Akter Shelly, who was inside the Darbar Sharif when her brother was kidnapped, recorded a general diary with Kabirhat Police Station on May 13.

Mamun's family and political fellows organised a human chain in front of Chittagong Press Club yesterday demanding that the administration take immediate measures to rescue him unhurt.

Later, they organised a press conference in Chittagong Press Club. In the press conference, Mamun's wife said an anti-government group “was trying to kill Mamun” as he helped law-enforcers take actions against miscreants and maintain law and order in Urir Char.

Mohammad Shahjahan, president of AL Sandwip upazila unit, said Mamun is a very popular leader in the area.

“Law-enforcers seem not to be too active to rescue him even after 15 days have passed,” he said.

Contacted, Mirza Mohammad Hasan, officer-in-charge of Kabirhat Police Station, said they were trying to rescue Mamun.

Commanding Officer of Rab-7 Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed said they got a complaint from the family on March 14 and were looking into the matter.