Officials have detained former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport ending his attempts to flee the country.
On Tuesday afternoon, the joint-general secretary of the ousted Awami League was arrested, airport sources claimed. Hasan remained missing since the resignation of Sheikh Hasina as the country's prime minister on Monday.
He is the fourth high-profile official of Awami League (AL), which waged a bloody and gruesome campaign to illegally extend its hold on to power, to be detained at the Dhaka international airport on Tuesday.
The bloodshed reached its peak over the last couple of weeks after students took to the streets demanding almost all of government job recruitment to be merit-based.
There were allegations that the ruling Awami League used the disproportionate quota system in public service jobs for adding its favoured people to the administrative branch and solidifying its unlawful grip on power.
Meanwhile, Former state minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak has been detained at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
Airport officials and employees apprehended him after he went to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with his two personal assistants on Tuesday afternoon. Instead of allowing him boarding the aircraft, he was taken to the immigration custody.
An official working for a government agency on duty at the airport said that former state minister Palak was staying at the airport wearing a mask. At that time, airport employees identified him from a closer look. Then he was detained. Dhaka Airport sources said Palak went to the airport to flee to Indian capital New Delhi by air. His two personal assistants wanted to go to Nepal. They were also detained.
Agitated people attacked Zunaid Ahmed Palak's house at Singra in Natore immediate after hearing the news that Sheikh Hasina fled the country. They set fire to Palak's house at Godownpara under Singra upazila sadar at about 4:00pm on that day. At that time, looting also took place there.
Besides, Tanvir Hasan Saikat, general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) at University of Dhaka, and Riaz Mahmud, BCL president of Dhaka North unit, were detained Tuesday afternoon while trying to flee the country through the Dhaka international airport. The leaders are known for directing violent attacks on quota reform protesters at University of Dhaka on July 15 that led to a mass anti-government upsurge, ultimately causing the downfall of the Awami League government.
