Police suspect Bangladesh opposition leader Salahuddin Ahmed's story

SHILLONG: The bizarre surfacing of the high profile Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Salahuddin Ahmed in Shillong and his arrest is raising more questions than answers. Bangladesh had turned into a safehaven for terror outfits of the North East during the BNP regime and Shillong had emerged as an important point on the transit route for Indian militants to Bangladesh.

However, with Awami League coming to power in that country, the law enforcement agencies have been coming down hard on the terror sanctuaries forcing them to shift their base to Indo-Myanmar border. The second in command in BNP, Tareq Rehman, the son of Begum Zia is alleged to have links with Pakistani intelligence agency ISI as well as underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Senior police officials are not convinced by Ahmed's version of the story.

"His claim of government involvement does not add up as he was already in hiding and was responsible for making inflammatory speeches. The government agencies could have implicated him in multiple cases or done anything with him. Why should they dump him in Shillong instead of taking him into custody?" asks a senior official who did not want to be named.

"While a battery of lawyers had descended in Shillong from various places to defend him after his arrest he is unwilling to go back to Bangladesh and is keen to move to a third country," he added.