Two others show up 11days after abduction

Two local Awami League and Chhatra Dal leaders returned home in Sadullapur's Naldanga yesterday, 11 days after going missing.

Maidul Islam Prince, publication secretary of Naldanga union AL, and Shafiul Islam Shapla, assistant secretary of Naldanga Chhatra Dal, disappeared from the union on January 10.

Earlier on Thursday, Monwarul Hasan Jim, vice president of Sadullapur Jubo League, and Sadequl Islam Sadek, former president of Damodarpur union Chhatra League, returned home after remaining missing for 10 days.

Prince's elder brother Tariqul Islam Nayon, also chairman of Naldanga Union Parishad, said Prince called them around 1:30am yesterday to inform that he along with Shafiul was in Taxer Hat area in Dinajpur's Parbatipur upazila.

“We later hired a microbus from Sadullapur and brought them back home,” said Tariqul.

Talking to The Daily Star, Prince said some unidentified men picked them up from Naldanga on January 10 and got them into in a microbus blindfolded.

Around 1:00am yesterday, some people dropped them in a lonely place. “Your motorcycle is a little ahead. Take it and go home,” Prince quoted one of the men as saying.

“After reaching Taxer Bazar, we felt sick. I phoned my elder brother and asked him to send a microbus,” said the AL leader.

During captivity they were blindfolded. However, the abductors gave them food and medicine, added Prince.

Chhatra Dal leader Shafiul said: “We could not comprehend where we had been staying. I was handcuffed and blindfolded in a room.”

Shafiul's father Aminul Islam said his family was worried about the disappearances. “Thank God we have got our son back.”               

Addressing a press conference at Gaibandha Press Club on Wednesday, Shafiul's wife Sathi Begum claimed that some plainclothes men picked up her husband from Naldanga at 11:00am on January 10. Since then, her husband's phone was switched off.

A tense situation had been prevailing in Sadullapur over their going missing. Local people staged demonstrations, including meetings, laying siege to Sadullapur Police Station, blocking rail lines and forming human chains, demanding the authorities trace the missing people.

The four families had lodged complaints with the police station.