Moeen leaves for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah

General Moeen U Ahmed, widely believed to be one of the architects of the January 1, 2007 emergency, has left the US for the first time after he was granted permanent citizenship there. He left for Saudi Arabia on Thursday to perform Umrah. His wife Naznin Ahmed is accompanying him. Those close to Moeen say he will return on March 26. The former General, undergoing cancer treatment in New York, was recently granted Green Card. He migrated to the US with his wife on June 14, 2009 after his retirement. He was staying in Florida with his younger brother and son when he was diagnosed with cancer. Moeen then moved to New York and has been living there ever since with a relative. The former General had never publicly spoken over Bangladesh’s situation although he was seen attending various public functions. During the 2007 emergency, former Bangladesh Bank Governor Fakhruddin Ahmed was made the chief of the military-installed caretaker government. It stayed in power well beyond its tenure. Moeen was the army chief at that time. Both of them had left Bangladesh after the ninth general elections in December 2008. Politicians are still critical of the duo. Moeen and Fakhruddin did not respond to a parliament standing committee summons, according to a news agency.