Know nothing

BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed remains traceless even five days after he went missing.

Five law enforcement agencies yesterday said none of them arrested the BNP leader, and they had no clue to his whereabouts.

However, Salahuddin's family members and a witness said plainclothes detectives picked him up from a house in the capital's Uttara area on March 10 night.

The agencies said they were trying to locate the BNP spokesperson, who from hideouts issued statements on hartals and blockade for the last one-and-a-half months.

In compliance with a High Court rule, the offices of inspector general of police (IGP), director general of Rapid Action Battalion, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and Special Branch of Police yesterday submitted separate reports on the BNP leader to the Attorney General's Office.

It remains unclear what happened to Salahuddin, who was appointed BNP spokesperson on February 1 following the arrest of another party Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed.

There are widespread allegations that law enforcers pick up people but show them arrested after several hours or even days.

Recently, Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna was shown arrested allegedly around 20 hours after he was detained by detectives on February 23.

The fate of BNP leaders Chowdhury Alam and Ilias Ali, who went missing in 2010 and 2012, still remains unknown.

On March 5 night, plainclothes men identifying themselves as law enforcers picked up former JCD leader Anisur Rahman Talukder Khokon from his Adabor house. He still remains traceless.

Like many BNP leaders, Salahuddin chose to work from hideouts. He changed locations to avoid arrest and issued statements on the party's ongoing anti-government movement since he had become party spokesperson.

Around 9:40pm on March 10, some 20-25 people in six microbuses went to the house on Road 13/B at Uttara Sector-3 where Salahuddin had been staying for four days, said Akhterul, caretaker of the building.

They parked two vehicles on both ends of the road and four in front of the house. Six to seven plainclothes men then entered the building at about 10:05pm, he told reporters yesterday.

“One of them slapped me when I asked them about the purpose of their visit. Some of them showed identity cards claiming they are DB police personnel.” They then went to the first floor of the building, he said.

Around half-an-hour later, they came down escorting a man, who was blindfolded with hands tied behind his back. “I knew the man is a BNP leader. I saw him many times on TV. He came to this house four days ago,” said Akhterul.

Salahuddin's wife Hasina Ahmed said the detectives broke the door of the apartment where the BNP leader was staying.

Sensing the law enforcers' presence, Salahuddin called her. “He called me around 10:10pm and tried to say something but the phone was switched off before he could finish,” Hasina, also ex-BNP lawmaker from Cox's Bazar-1, told The Daily Star.

She then started searching for him. Meanwhile, the BNP leadership learnt about the incident. But it wasn't until the following afternoon when the BNP informed the media that “Salahuddin was detained by detectives”.

Talking to this correspondent last night, Hasina Ahmed said the reports of the law enforcement agencies were unacceptable. She criticised the prime minister's comment that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia might have hid Salahuddin somewhere.

Prominent rights activist Sultana Kamal said the point is not whether law enforcement or intelligence agencies have detained Salahuddin. It is the duty of the state to find him as his wife filed a writ petition with the High Court, she told The Daily Star.

Former police boss Nurul Huda said police, the CID, the SB and the DB of police and Rab have the authority to arrest or detain a person on reasonable grounds.

Apart from those, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the forest department and customs can also detain people with the help of law enforcers, he told this correspondent.

In a statement yesterday, BNP Joint Secretary General Barkat Ullah Bulu said, “We don't have any words to condemn Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's unrealistic comment [on Salahuddin].”

“People expect a responsible statement from her … The government cannot avoid its responsibility by making such a comment on an important issue.”

Addressing a programme in the capital on Saturday, the PM said, “When I went to meet her [Khaleda], I knew Salahuddin was in the office and was issuing press releases from there. Everyone knew that ... My question is whether Khaleda had hid him somewhere else. We are searching for him [Salahuddin] and it is true. If found, he will be arrested as he is accused in several cases.”