Police dismiss talk of missing schoolteacher Fouzia’s links to militancy

Police have dismissed speculations growing on the social media that missing schoolteacher Ferdousi Ekram Fouzia was involved in militancy.

The 30-year-old math teacher at Dhaka’s Maple Leaf International School went missing on Jul 2 from her Green Road residence in the capital.

Her family filed a general diary with Kalabagan Police Station the next day after searching nearby hospitals and police stations.

Kalabagan police OC Yasir Arafat Khan said: “The negative comments on Facebook are baseless. We have checked her call records and Facebook ID which show no such sign.”

Her relatives’ houses and other possible locations had been searched but police could not find any clue yet, he said.

People are making up the rumours only because Fouzia wears hijab, according to the OC.

Fouzia, a graduate from the Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, joined a branch of Maple Leaf International School at Dhanmondi 7/A in 2015.

She is the breadwinner of her family consisting of her parents and four siblings.

Fouzia went out of her apartment to meet a student on Jul 2. She left her mobile phone at home.

She used to start for school in the morning and return in the evening. “She mostly travelled by rickshaw,” said Iman Hossain, a security guard of the eight-storey building.

Her family was not allowing any journalist to enter their home, said the guards when bdnews24.com went there on Thursday.

Fouzia’s father Md Ekram could not be reached by phone either.

Md Asaduzzaman, a supervisor at the Maple Leaf branch where Fouzia worked, said: “She was very sincere in her work. She worked for us from 8am to 1pm and then she had another part-time job in another school as far as I know.”

He said Fouzia did not join the school after it opened following the Eid vacation on Jul 3.

“No-one responded to our calls initially but then her younger sister called back and said she (Fouzia) was sick,” said Asaduzzaman.

“On Jul 4, they again called and said Fouzia was having some problems and she would be back in a few days. They requested me to see that she did not lose her job.”

The family informed the school authorities about Fouzia’s disappearance on Jul 6.

Fouzia’s father and sister are also employed to the same school.