Staff Reporter :
Two relatives of BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed met him in the Indian hospital in on Thursday. According to a report of BBC Bangla, the BNP leader told the relatives that he was brought to Shillong in the Indian state of Meghalaya blindfolded after changing vehicles for several times.
“I was dropped from a vehicle at Pologround of Shillong and I was also blindfolded at that time,” said Salahuddin.
Aiyub Ali, a resident of Kolkata who identified him as a distance cousin of Salahuddin, and another relative told BBC that after removing the blindfold, Salahuddin could not understand where he was staying. Later, he was told about his position after talking to locals. He himself went to the police and gave his identity, though the Shillong police have been claiming that locals found him in mentally imbalanced condition, and informed them. According to the Indian police, they arrested Salauddin from Golf Link of Shillong, Meghalaya’s capital, on Monday. They sent him to a mental hospital. Later, the BNP leader was shifted to the Shillong Civil Hospital. He is now under the treatment of doctors in the hospital with tight police vigil. The two relatives met him amid tight security.
BNP and Salahuddin’s family members had been claiming that law enforcers picked the BNP leader from a house at Uttara in Dhaka on March 10. The law enforcers, however, denied the allegation.
The Thursday’s statement of Salahuddin was his first since he was found in Shillong. But doctors and nurses did not provide any statement about Salahuddin other than his health condition.
However, Dr DJ Goswami, who was attending Salahuddin in the hospital, told the BBC that they found some Bangladeshi medicines in possession of Salahuddin. He also said that the BNP leader was suffering from kidney ailments and cardiac problems.
Meanwhile, some relatives of Salahuddin went to India to meet the BNP leader, but they could not meet him. Humayun Rashid, who identified him as cousin of the BNP leader, said that SP of Shillong police had allowed them to meet him in the hospital. But later the police withdrew the permission. BNP’s assistant office secretary Abdul Latif Jony also reached Shillong on Thursday to meet Salahuddin.
On the other hand, Salahuddin’s wife Hasina Ahmed and other family members did not get visas till Thursday evening. They on Wednesday applied for Indian visa to meet the BNP leader. Hasina, also a former MP, said that the Indian High Commission told them that they were trying to grant the visa quickly.
The Indian police on Thursday afternoon interrogated Salahuddin about his entering into Indian territory. The police, however, did not disclose anything.
Salahuddin will be brought back to the country through legal process. It may take some time to maintain the legal process, as the Indian police arrested him on charge of trespassing without travel documents.
According to the Indian Foreigners’ Act, he may face imprisonment. Police filed a case against him under the Act. The Indian authorities, however, may send him to Bangladesh if the Indian court issues order in this regard, said Indian police.
Vivek Syiem, Superintendent of Police (city) of East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, told an English daily of Dhaka that the Indian police would send back Salahuddin to Bangladesh if the court orders. They will produce him before court once the hospital authorities release him.
In cases of trespassing like the one involving Salahuddin, police usually send the intruder back to his country upon court order, said Vivek Syiem. He said they have already communicated the matter to Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and Bangladesh Mission in Kolkata.
