BNP Ex-Minister, Arrested in Shillong, Seeks to Prolong his Stay

The ex-BNP minister who was spotted and arrested in Shillong a few days back, seeks to prolong his stay in India.

Salahuddin Ahmed at an informal gathering of BNP workers. (Courtesy: Salahuddin Ahmed’s Facebook Page)

Six days after The Quint exclusively reported that the then missing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) former minister Salahuddin Ahmed was found roaming around aimlessly in Shillong’s Golf Links locality and arrested under the 1946 Foreigners Act, he appears to be making attempts to prolong his sojourn in India.

Seeking Shelter From the Storm

Hasina Ahmed, wife of Salahuddin Ahmed. (Courtesy: Salahuddin Ahmed’s Facebook Page)

Ahmed met his wife Hasina, who flew in from Dhaka to Guwahati, and then proceeded to Shillong to meet him. Ahmed has been convalescing in a civil hospital in the Meghalaya capital. His unusually long stay in the hospital is being seen by the Meghalaya government as a means to stonewall investigations and a delaying tactic.

Speaking to The Quint, Shillong City Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem said that while Hasina was allowed to meet her husband on humanitarian grounds, there were unconfirmed reporters that the former BNP minister, who was acting as the party’s spokesperson before he allegedly disappeared from Dhaka’s upmarket residential area, Uttara, on March 10, was also exploring possibilities of continuing with his treatment in a third country.

Syiem, however, said that since Ahmed has been booked under the Foreigners Act, it was unlikely that the court would allow this concession. Ahmed fears that since he is a functionary of the opposition party in Bangladesh, the ruling Awami League would tighten the screws on him and throw him in prison should he be deported.

An Uncertain Future

Salahudding Ahmed at the civil hospital in Shillong. (Courtesy: Salahuddin Ahmed’s Facebook Page)

The Meghalaya police’s hackles have also been raised by the failure to interrogate Ahmed because of his continued convalescence. “Be sure that he will face a volley of questions once he is discharged from the hospital,” a senior Meghalaya police officer said. Bangladesh has already issued an Interpol alert and has sought his return at the earliest.

Ahmed, Meghalaya police sources said, has revealed that he was abducted in Dhaka on March 10, but beyond that he has not been able to satisfy the sleuths’ queries on how he landed in Shillong, which is about 100 km inland from the Dawki on the porous India-Bangladesh border. It is likely that Ahmed was abducted by Bangladesh intelligence operatives, though it is not clear why he was left on his own in Indian territory.

The Sheikh Hasina government has denied any foul play, but has not satisfactorily explained how and why Ahmed suddenly surfaced in Shillong. That the answer that the Meghalaya police is seeking from Ahmed.