BNP leader Salahuddin returns to Bangladesh after 9 years

The senior BNP leader had gone missing from the capital’s Uttara in 2015 before turning up in India 63 days later

After nine years, BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed has returned to Bangladesh.

He arrived at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 2:16pm on Saturday aboard an Air India flight from Delhi.

Several thousand party leaders and activists celebrated his return at the airport. BNP Vice Chairman Rabkat Ullah Bulu and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi greeted him with flowers at the airport’s VIP Lounge.

On Mar 10, 2015, Salahuddin went ‘missing’ from the capital’s Uttara amid BNP’s protests against the Awami League government. He was the party’s joint secretary general at that time.

On May 11, 2015, he was rescued in a bewildered state by Shillong police in Meghalaya and admitted to a hospital 63 days after his disappearance.

Meghalaya police later arrested him under the Foreigners Act as they did not find any valid documents on him.

On Jul 22, 2015, a formal complaint was filed against him in a Shillong court.

He was acquitted in the case filed by Meghalaya Police on Oct 26, 2018. The Indian government later appealed against the verdict.

On Feb 28, 2023, the Shillong Judge Court acquitted him after settling the appeal. The court also instructed that he return to Bangladesh as soon as possible.

However, he did not return amid fears of hostility in the country under the Awami League's rule.

Salahuddin was a junior civil servant who had served as BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s assistant private secretary during her 1991-96 tenure as prime minister.

He later left the government job and became an MP from Cox’s Bazar. He had served as state minister for telecommunications during the 2001-06 BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government. His wife, Hasina Ahmed, is also a former MP.

In 2016, he was made a member of the BNP’s highest policymaking body, the National Standing Committee.

Over the years, BNP has alleged that Salahuddin did not go to India voluntarily and was sent across the border after being captured. The party also blamed the Awami League government for it.