Dhaka //

The passports of several bureaucrats (secretaries and additional secretaries) known as friends of the absconding autocrat Sheikh Hasina in India have been cancelled. Most of them served as District Commissioners (DCs) in several controversial elections held during the previous government’s tenure.

Those concerned said that after the fall of the dictatorship through the bloody uprising of the student masses on August 5, a purge campaign began in the administration. At one stage, many of the officials identified as friends of the previous government were given compulsory retirement and transferred as special officers. In continuation of this, the passports of the concerned officials are being cancelled and they are being banned from leaving the country.

22 people on the list: In the first phase, the passports of 22 officials have been cancelled. They are former Senior Secretary Zakia Sultana, Abu Hena Morshed Zaman, Kamrul Hasan, Additional Secretary Hamidul Haque, Mohammad Shafiul Arif, Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman Sarkar, Wahidul Islam, SM Alam, Enamul Habib, Shawkat Ali, Rabbi Mia, Fayek Ahmed, Umme Salma Tanzia, Subhas Chandra Biswas, Dewan Mohammad Humayun Kabir, Mohammad Masud Karim, Kamrun Nahara Siddika, Abu Saleh Mohammad Ferdaus Khan, Tofail Islam, Ahmed Kabir, Sayla Farzana and Tanmoy Das.

A letter was sent to the Passport Department from the Home Ministry on February 25 to cancel the passports of the concerned. The letter signed by Senior Assistant Secretary of the Security Services Department, Kazi Arifur Rahman, said, “As per Article 7 (2)(c) of the Bangladesh Passport Order 1973, the passports of the following 22 Bangladeshi citizens are cancelled and necessary measures are requested to be taken to prevent them from leaving the country.”

Sources said that most of the officials whose passports were cancelled were trusted by the autocratic government. They were DCs (District Administrators) in various districts of the country in the controversial elections of 2014 and 2018. At that time, they were involved in massive vote rigging in the one-party style elections. Later, as a reward for vote rigging, they were promoted as soon as possible. Besides, many were appointed to various important positions in the government.

Among the officials whose passports were cancelled, Ahmed Kabir served as the Deputy Commissioner of Jamalpur, Mokhlesur Rahman in Gopalganj, Hamidul Haque in Jhalakathi, Wahidul Islam in Madaripur, Abu Saleh Mohammad Ferdaus Khan in Manikganj, Subhas Chandra Biswas in Mymensingh, Rabbi Mia in Narayanganj, Faiz Ahmed in Bogra, Sayla Farzana in Munshiganj, Umme Salma Tanzia in Faridpur, and Dewan Mohammad Humayun Kabir in Gazipur. The elections held in these districts during their tenure were widely questioned.

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