Bangladesh Arrest: 1971 War Vet Abu Alam Shahid Khan Detained

Dhaka/New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI): Bangladesh police have reported the arrest of Abu Alam Shahid Khan, a renowned veteran of the 1971 Liberation War and former bureaucrat. Khan, who has been an outspoken critic of Muhammad Yunus's interim government, was detained amid a wave of arrests targeting dissenters following the ousting of Sheikh Hasina's administration.

"He (Khan) has been arrested by Dhaka Metropolitan Police's detective branch in a case lodged with the Shahbagh police station," the police stated. However, they did not provide specifics regarding the charges or the circumstances of the arrest.

The statement also highlighted the arrest of five others involved in the same crackdown. These individuals were participating in “flash marches,” spontaneous street protests frequently organized by activists from the now-disbanded Awami League, previously led by the deposed prime minister, Hasina.

According to authorities, those arrested face allegations of attempting to execute acts of sabotage and violating public order.

Khan, a retired government secretary, has been vocal on social media, criticizing the interim government's actions.

He is the fourth significant critic of this interim regime to be detained in recent times.

On August 7, Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a former vice-chancellor of Rangpur University and ardent critic of Yunus, was apprehended.

On August 27, authorities detained Dhaka University law professor Hafizur Rahman Curzon and journalist Manjurul Alam Panna under the country's stringent Anti-Terrorism Act. Several veterans of the Liberation War, including former minister Latif Siddiqui, were also taken into custody.

This wave of arrests followed violent disruptions at a veterans’ discussion organized by the newly-formed platform Moncho 71 at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium.

A mob reportedly stormed the event, labeling participants as “accomplices of Hasina’s fascist regime” and accusing them of scheming against the student-led “July Uprising” that led to the fall of the Awami League government last year.

Police intervened ostensibly to safeguard the event’s participants but subsequently charged them under the anti-terror law, a move widely criticized for punishing victims rather than perpetrators.

Siddiqui, 87, a former minister in Hasina’s cabinet who parted ways with the Awami League over a decade ago, is currently detained alongside other veterans in their late 70s.

Khan, who had also attended the disrupted event and narrowly evaded the attack, had informed PTI that no Awami League leaders were present on that occasion.

Bangladesh has been navigating political turbulence since last year’s July Uprising, when persistent student protests led to Hasina’s resignation, ending her over 15-year tenure in power.

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