Salahuddin's wife, brother don't want his return

Giasuddin Ahmed yesterday said senior BNP leader and his elder brother Salahuddin Ahmed would not be safe in Bangladesh and that they could not bring him back considering the present political situation.

"There are several senior BNP leaders behind bars who are not getting proper treatment, threatening their lives. We fear the government would throw Salahuddin in jail and would not provide proper treatment," he told The Daily Star.

"Instead, we want to take him to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore as early as possible where he had undergone treatment for his cardiac and kidney problems several times, if the court and law permits," he added.

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has already said Salahuddin would be arrested on his return and tried on charges of instigating violence during the BNP-led-20-party alliance-sponsored three months' hartal and blockade since January 6.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin's wife Hasina Ahmed also told an Indian newspaper that her husband would be unsafe in Bangladesh. She also appealed to Dr Vaskar Borgohain, medical superintendent of North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) in Shillong, Meghalaya, requesting to complete his treatment before releasing and handing him over to police. She said Salahuddin has been suffering from kidney and heart complications and his treatment might be hampered in police custody, sources at NEIGRIHMS told The Daily Star.

Salahuddin talked to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for the second time after Tabith Awal, a BNP-backed mayoral candidate in the recently held Dhaka North City Corporation polls, visited him at NEIGRIHMS and called Khaleda up from his phone. BNP leaders said the conversation lasted around five minutes but could not provide further details.After disappearing from a residence in the capital's Uttara on March 10, the BNP spokesperson appeared in Shillong, the capital city of Indian's Northeastern state of Meghalaya.

Shillong police said the 54-year-old former state minister was arrested on May 11 after locals reported a suspicious person loitering in the tourist city's Golf Link area.

Police at first admitted him to a mental hospital and later shifted him to Shillong Civil Hospital on May 12.

Following Shillong Civil Hospital's advice, Salahuddin was shifted to NEIGRIHMS on May 20. Meghalaya police are with him round the clock as he is facing a case for violating the Foreigners' Act.

His wife submitted a petition at a Shillong court on Friday on his behalf seeking bail. The court directed police to submit a report on Salahuddin by May 29.