Ousted Awami League leaders and activists have chosen the borders in Sylhet division as safe routes to flee the country. Leaders and activists of the Awami League started fleeing the country through the Sylhet frontiers after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5. Since then, dozens of Awami men including ministers, lawmakers, mayors and public representatives have already crossed the border and taken shelter in India.
Ishak Ali Khan Panna, the former general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League and a member of the Pirojpur district Awami League, was killed while attempting to flee to India on August 29. Many Awami League men are now staying in the United Kingdom, the United States, and various Middle East countries via India. A smuggling syndicate does the job of sending Awami men through the border for money. This syndicate has chosen the Sylhet borders as safe routes for fleeing as the borders are very remote.
A rumour spread that Awami League General Secretary, also former Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader fled the country on November 5 through the Sylhet border. Quader safely reached India’s Guwahati via Shillong. An Awami League leader, who is staying in India, said that Obaidul Quader is scheduled to go to Delhi within a few days via Kolkata.
Sources said leaders and activists of the Awami League and its associate organisations started fleeing the country to India from August 5 with the help of the strong syndicate active in the Sylhet border for a long. At first, local Chhatra League leaders, also members of the smuggling syndicate, used to cooperate in this process. Later, the smuggling syndicate took the charge solely.
According to local sources, at first, Awami League men go to Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya State of India. They, later, go to various countries. Those who do have not enough financial ability take refuge in various places in India including Shillong, Guwahati and Kolkata.
It is known that more than 100 Awami League men were detained while fleeing to India through the Sylhet borders in the first 100 days of the interim government. On August 23, Locals detained former Appellate Division Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik while he was trying to escape to India through the Dana border area of Kanaighat. On September 7, Sylhet’s Jaintapur upazila Awami League president Kamal Ahmed was detained on September 7 while fleeing through the Goabari frontier. On September 12, a youth was detained from the Doarabazar border and 19 lakh Indian rupees were seized from his possession. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained another youth from the Kanaighat frontier on the same day.
On September 22 and 24, six persons from the Madhabpur border of Habiganj and four Awami League men from the Mikirpara border of Kanaighat were detained respectively. Five more people were detained from Dhormoghar frontier of Madhabpur on October 5, three were arrested from Ranirghat border of Gowainghat upazila on October 8, and four other four were detained from the same border on October 9.
On November 12, four were arrested from the Mayabi Waterfall border of Jaflong and a youth was arrested from Madhabpur. On October 29 and 30, BGB detained eight persons from the same upazila and two from the Mohonpur border respectively. Six were arrested while they were trying to flee India through the Madhabpur border on October 19.
bd-pratidin/GR
