5 C'nawabganj BNP men picked up by law enforcers

BNP yesterday alleged that law enforcers picked up five party men of Chapainawabganj in August and they were not taken to court as of yesterday. 

The party demanded a judicial inquiry into the arrests and also a recent shootout in which another BNP activist, Ferdous Hasan of South Keraniganj, was allegedly killed on Sunday.

Golam Rabbani, Abul Hossain, Nazrul Islam, Apple, and Babu were picked up by police between August 22 and August 30, said BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Khan Ripon.

The first three were picked up in Rajshahi, Apple in Naogaon, and Babu at the capital's Khilkhet, he told a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office.

Ripon had initially claimed that six party men were picked up, the sixth being Tutul, but upon an inquiry he later said Tutul was an Awami League supporter of Chapainawabganj and BNP wanted him back too.

Local BNP leaders confirmed to our Chapainawabganj correspondent that some of their leaders were picked up by law enforcers in Dhaka and Rajshahi, but they could not provide the names immediately.

Harunur Rashid, organising secretary of BNP, hailing from Chapainawabganj, said Tutul was an AL man.

However, Officer-in-Charge of Chapainawabganj Sadar Model Police Station Golam Mortuza said they did not pick up any BNP men or have any information that they were detained by law enforcers.

He said a general diary (GD) was filed by Tutul's wife regarding his disappearance.  

When asked, the BNP spokesman said families of the missing men informed the party of their disappearances and he did not know whether they had filed GDs.

Ripon told the press conference, "After killing some ruling party men in crossfire in recent times, we feared that the opposition men would again be targeted victims of forced disappearances and murders. The fear has come true as our six activists have remained missing for some days."

He said, "This is regrettable that law enforcers are regularly doing illegal things like extrajudicial killings violating the constitution. The families of the victims of enforced disappearances are holding the law enforcers responsible for the incidents."