Return Salahuddin or face dire upshot

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday warned the government of dire consequences, if it does not return the missing BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed to his family or produce him before court.
In a statement, issued by her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel, she said twelve days have already passed since the law-enforcers picked up the BNP joint secretary general from an apartment in Uttara.
"My anxiety, like that of his family members, has reached an extreme level as the authorities concerned are yet to release him, produce him before court or even admit his arrest," the BNP chairperson, who leads the 20-party alliance, said in the statement.
"The law-enforcers had talks with local youths, security guards and caretaker of the building before they took away Salahuddin Ahmed. There are many eye-witnesses of the operation. Therefore, there is no scope to avoid responsibility by denying the arrest."
The former premier also said it has become a frequent incident during the tenure of the present government that the law-enforcement agencies are picking up leaders and activists of her party before making them victims of enforced disappearance. Bodies of some of these people are recovered from various parts of the country after the law-enforcers denied their arrests.
The BNP chairperson's statement said many of the party's leaders, like - former lawmakers Ilias Ali and Saiful Islam Hiru, former DCC commissioner Chowdhury Alam and president of BNP Laksam municipality unit Ruhul Kabir Parvez, are not traced out yet although many days have passed.
She also called upon all political leaders and conscious citizens of the country as well as human rights activists at home and abroad to raise their voice in this connection, as no one is safe and secure in the country's current context.
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