taff Reporter:
A three-member high-level probe body has been formed to look into the departure of former president Md Abdul Hamid.
Education Adviser Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar will lead the committee, while two other members are Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Water Resources Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan, and Shipping and Labour and Employment Adviser Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain.
The committee has been asked to submit its report within the next 15 days, the chief adviser’s press wing said in a statement on Sunday.
This probe body would investigate how the former president left the country through Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, whether there has been any kind of negligence on the part of relevant authorities, and identify those who failed to carry out their responsibilities as well as submit recommendations on measures that can be taken accordingly, it said.
To accomplish the above-mentioned tasks, the committee will have the authority to seek documents and evidence as well as interview relevant individuals.
In this context, all agencies concerned must abide by the committee’s directives and provide the necessary support, read the statement.
The committee may co-opt additional members if it requires, while the Public Security Division of the home ministry will extend secretarial assistance to the committee.
Hamid, who served as president of Bangladesh for two consecutive terms under the now-deposed Awami League regime, departed from the Dhaka airport in the early hours of 8 May aboard a Thai Airways flight, reportedly bound for Bangkok for medical treatment.
He was accompanied by his younger son, Riyad Ahmed, and brother-in-law, Naushad Khan.
Despite being named in a case of murder and genocide – filed in January in connection with the shooting and killing of protesters during the mass uprising – no travel ban was in place against the former president, airport sources confirmed.
His unimpeded departure has stirred outrage among opposition parties, civil society, and student groups, who see it as a gross failure of law enforcement and a betrayal of the victims of state violence.
Meanwhile, a probe body has been formed to investigate the entire incident, while three police officers have been punished over Abdul Hamid’s exit from the country.
