BSF jawans maintain vigil at the India-Bangladesh international border, at Chatrahati in Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal, on the eve of Independence Day. | Photo Credit: ANI
a retired judge BangladeshBangladesh Supreme Court Justice Abdul Kalam was detained from Sylhet, the northeastern border area with India, when he was allegedly trying to flee the country, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said on Friday (August 23, 2024).
This report came a few hours after the arrest. Awami League Leader ASM Feroz was detained from his residence.
Watch: The story of Sheikh Hasina
The BGB headquarters told reporters through an SMS that they have detained former Supreme Court top appellate division judge Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik as he was trying to enter India through the Kanaighat border in Sylhet.
Newspapers Prothom Alo The camp in-charge was quoted as saying that Manik was kept at the BGB post till midnight.
Bangladesh plunges into chaos after Prime Minister is ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government Her government collapsed on August 5 amid violent protests over reservations in government jobs and she fled to India, while the military stepped in to fill the power vacuum.
Earlier, more than 500 people were killed in anti-government protests since mid-July. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the chief advisor of the interim government on 8 August.
Since August 5, several leaders of the ousted regime, including senior ministers, have been arrested – several of them accused of murder.
The Bangladesh army had earlier said that hundreds of leaders of Hasina’s Awami League and others have been taken shelter in cantonments as their lives were in danger.
Former Law Minister Anisul Haque and former Prime Minister’s private sector affairs adviser Salman F Rahman were first arrested from the Sadarghat terminal area of Dhaka’s main river port when they were allegedly trying to leave Dhaka on a boat.
Several members of Hasina’s Cabinet, including former Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud and former Social Welfare Minister Dipu Moni, several lawmakers and leaders of the Awami League and its allies, including leftist Workers Party chairman Rashid Khan Menon, as well as several recently dismissed military and civilian officials have been arrested.
They also included sacked Major General Ziaul Hasan, who served as head of the government’s telecommunications system, and Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohel, chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority, who was once a spokesman for the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion.
TV journalist couple Farzana Roopa and her husband Shakeel Ahmed have also been arrested.