BNP's Salahuddin shoots documentary on disappearances murders at Tamabil border
Lukman.Ahmws, Sylhet
BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed has returned after nine years to the route from which he was allegedly abducted and sent to India in 2015.
Arriving in Sylhet on a flight from Dhaka on Saturday morning, he went straight to the Tamabil border. There, he participated in the shooting of a documentary produced by the government-formed Commission for the Investigation of Disappearances and Murders.
On the night of March 10, 2015, the then BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed went missing from a house in Uttara, Dhaka. After 63 days, on May 11 of the same year, he was found in the Indian city of Shillong. From there, he could not return home for almost nine years due to legal complications.
During a visit to the Tamabil border, Salahuddin said, "The day I was being taken somewhere blindfolded, I didn't understand where the destination was. I thought maybe I was being taken for crossfire. Today I understand, I was probably smuggled to India through this route."
He further said, "I opened my eyes in Shillong and realized that I was alive. But then I was sent to a mental hospital. At that time, I thought that maybe I would have to spend the rest of my life there. Keeping people alive and disappearing like that is also a kind of death."
Recounting this experience, he said that such incidents of political disappearance create deep wounds in the lives of both the individual and the family.
Salahuddin Ahmed was welcomed with flowers by the leaders of the district and metropolitan BNP at the Sylhet Osmani International Airport to participate in the shooting of the documentary. BNP Chairperson's Advisor Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, Sylhet District BNP President Abdul Qayyum Chowdhury, General Secretary Emran Ahmed Chowdhury, Metropolitan BNP Acting President Qays Lodi, UK BNP leaders MA Malik and Kamrul Hasan Chowdhury Shahin were present.
Incidentally, a five-member investigation commission led by retired Justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury has been formed by the Office of the Chief Advisor to investigate the incidents of disappearances and murders that occurred during the Awami League government. The investigation into allegations against all law enforcement agencies including the Police, RAB, BGB, NSI, DGFI will fall under the purview of this commission.
After returning home, Salahuddin Ahmed submitted a written complaint to the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal on June 3. In it, he named seven people, including then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for alleged involvement in the disappearance.
