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Published : 28 Aug 2025, 02:05 PM
Police have taken former minister Latif Siddique and several others into custody following unrest at a Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) event.
Several people surrounded Latif when he came to join a programme arranged by an organisation called Mancha 71 on Thursday morning. Police then took him into custody at the scene.
While taking Latif away, Sub-Inspector Rashed from Shahbagh Police Station said: “We have no alternative but to remove them from the area. We are taking them. Senior officials will make a decision.”
Mancha 71 organised a roundtable discussion on “Our Glorious Liberation War and the Bangladesh Constitution” at the DRU Shafiqul Kabir Auditorium on Thursday morning. Former Gono Forum president Kamal Hossain was to appear as the chief guest at the event.
Freedom fighter Golam Mostafa, who attended the event, said: “I came to the event here. All freedom fighters were invited, not just people according to their party allegiances – so I came. We had started the programme. Latif Siddique Sir came. Kamal Hossain sir did not come. A group of 20-25 young men came and started a commotion. They surrounded us.”
A visit to the scene showed that one of the tables had been broken, but some of the attendees were still there. A group of people were causing a commotion.
Around noon, Latif and several others were taken away by police van by a team led by ADC Asad.
Shahbagh Police Station chief Khalid Mansur told bdnews24.com, "I was not at the scene; the ADC sir was present. To my knowledge, six or seven people have been taken to the DB office."
Latif served as the textiles and jute minister in the Awami League government from 2009 to 2013. In January 2014, he was appointed to head the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology.
Later, while on a trip to the United States, he was expelled from the cabinet and the party following his comments about Hajj during a discussion. He then resigned from parliament and became inactive in politics.
Although he lost as an independent candidate in the Tangail-4 constituency during the 11th parliamentary election, he defeated the “boat” symbol as an independent candidate in the 2024 election.
