Give Manna back to his family, says ‘BNP’ statement

A media statement issued in the name of the BNP has alleged the government has a hand in ‘disappearance’ of Mahmudur Rahman Manna and demanded that the Nagorik Oikya convener be returned to his family.

The allegation came a day after leaked phone conversations revealed Manna was plotting to oust the Hasina government through violence, murder and seeking meetings with senior military officers.

Manna’s family alleged that six to seven people identifying themselves as detective policemen picked him up from his brother’s residence in Dhaka’s Banani around 3am on Tuesday.

Police, however, have denied the allegations and pleaded ignorance about his whereabouts.

Manna’s sister-in-law Begum Sultana filed a general diary around 1:45pm on Tuesday at Banani Police Station claiming the plainclothesmen took him away.

The Tuesday statement sent on BNP letterhead and signed by party Joint Secretary Salahuddin Ahmed, who is staying at an undisclosed location, urged the government to refrain from ‘this sort of heinous acts’.

bdnews24.com broke the news on the telephone conversations between Manna, BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka, and an unidentified person.

The former DUCSU VP told Khoka that a few deaths could destabilise the government if a clash over occupying the Dhaka University's residential halls could be engineered.

In the audio clip containing the conversation with the unidentified person, the Nagorik Oikya chief expressed his readiness to sit with officers in uniform to help foist an unconstitutional military rule on Bangladesh.

Demands of his arrest on sedition charges have been raised by ruling Awami League leaders.

In the GD, Manna’s sister-in-law demanded to know about his whereabouts and a proper investigation into the incident.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Gulshan zone) Assistant Commissioner Nur Alam, however, told bdnews24.com that they had no information regarding the matter.

Detective Branch spokesperson Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said they had not detained or arrested Manna.

"We’re checking if any other agency has detained him," he told bdnews24.com.

Earlier, six GDs were filed with Shahbagh, Ramna and Paltan police about Manna and the leaked conversations.

The BNP statement said: “We are astonished to see the statement of police that Manna was not arrested after plainclothes members of government law-enforcing agencies had picked (him) up without any arrest warrant.”

“The way a citizen of the country of this stature has been picked up; there is no guarantee for citizens’ fundamental rights, human rights and the right to live.

“We are demanding that Mahmudur Rahman Manna be returned to his family and proper actions be taken against those responsible for it,” it added.