Staff Reporter :BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia once again demanded the government either to return her party’s Joint Secretary General Salauddin Ahmed to his family or produce him before the court. Otherwise, the government will face dire consequences, she warned. “Twelve days have already passed since law enforcers picked up Salahuddin, but the authorities are yet to release him or produce him before court or admit his arrest,” she said in a statement on Sunday.Signed by her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel, the BNP chief also said that there is no reason to think that the ruling party will be able to get away by making fun over the disappearance of a leader like Salahuddin. “The law enforcers had talks with local youths, security guards and caretaker of the building before they took away Salahuddin. There are many eyewitnesses of the operation. So, there is no scope to avoid responsibility by denying the arrest,” she said. She also said that the government should keep in mind the concern of the international community in this regard too.Salahuddin, also a former state minister, frequently announced hartals by issuing press releases on behalf of the BNP-led 20-party alliance.Khaleda Zia urged the political leaders, activists, human rights organisations, and conscious citizens to be vocal in this regard because nobody is safe in the country now. Anyone can either be killed or forced disappearance any time, she said. Mentioning that it has become a regular affair in the Awami League regime to arrest the 20-party men identifying themselves as law-enforcement members and later make them disappeared, she said that it is not acceptable under any circumstances in a civilised country to use police like Gestapo to cling to power.
