Salahuddin, wife meet in Shillong amid outpouring of emotion

BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed, currently undergoing treatment in the Shillong Civil Hospital, turned emotional after meeting wife Hasina Ahmed on Monday evening.

Dilip Kumar Sharmabdnews24.com
Published : 18 May 2015, 07:10 PM
Updated : 21 May 2015, 11:23 AM

Hasina reached the north-eastern state of Meghalaya from Dhaka via Kolkata.

Hasina, who travelled a long distance to meet her husband, could barely spend 15 minutes with him – a brief encounter heavy with emotion.

Ahmed, who went missing from Dhaka on Mar 10, was arrested in state capital Shillong on May 11 for travelling without valid document.

During the brief meeting, Ahmed enquired about his children. He told his wife that he wanted to go back home to his children.

Both became so emotional during the meeting that they were unable to discuss anything else.

Hasina, reached Guwahati Airport from Kolkata in a Jet airways flight at around 2pm in Monday.

From there, she drove to Shillong, reaching the hill town in the evening.

Hasina also had to visit the City SP’s office for permission to meet her husband.

There, her documents were checked and cleared. She, along with BNP Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony, met Ahmed at 8:10 pm.

Jony, while talking about the meeting over phone, told bdnews24.com that both Ahmed and his wife cried on seeing each other.

Mahbub Kabir, the husband of Hasina's sister along with another close relative from Dhaka, also reached Shillong on Monday.

Earlier in the day, while being taken to a hospital in Shillong for CT scan, Ahmed had told waiting journalists that he wanted to go back home in Bangladesh.

Ahmed said he had not committed any crime that warranted a red notice alert by Interpol.

East Khasi Hills district SP M Kharkhrang said Hasina arrived in Shillong on Monday evening and sought permission to meet her husband. “We allowed her to meet him,” he said.

The SP, however, said here was no question of letting off the former Bangladesh minister because he had been arrested for violating the Foreigners Act.

“There is no question of releasing Ahmed. We are following all legal procedures,” he added.

On the chances of Ahmed being legally released, a senior lawyer well versed in cases related to the violation of the Foreigners Act said that after he was produced before the court, he would be placed under judicial custody, which means he would be lodged in jail.

The maximum punishment for illegal entry is imprisonment for five years.

The lawyer said that, in the meantime, if the government made an appeal before the court for his extradition, the matter will be examined by the court.

Meghalaya DGP Rajiv Mehta said if the government appealed for Ahmed's extradition, the police would put the matter before the court.

After meeting her husband, Hasina expressed her gratitude to the Government of India and the Meghalaya police administration for “saving her husband's life” and providing him good medical treatment.