'I thought I was going to be killed in crossfire': BNP's Salahuddin recalls his 2015 abduction

BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has emotionally recounted the day he was forcibly taken across the Bangladesh-India border in 2015, revealing he initially feared he was being taken for an extrajudicial killing rather than an abduction.

Speaking to the media today (11 October) in Sylhet, at the Tamabil border crossing, the senior politician revisited the location where he believes he was illegally transported, marking the beginning of his nearly nine-year absence from the country.

"I didn't know I was being forcibly taken across the border," Salahuddin recalled. "I thought I was going to be subjected to a crossfire or dumped somewhere in the forest," he said.

Salahuddin, who was visiting Sylhet for the shooting of a documentary on enforced disappearances for the cultural affairs ministry, believes his abductors used the Tamabil route to take him to Shillong, the capital of India's Meghalaya state.

"When they took me across this area, it was probably through this road, that's what I feel," he said. He described being left bound – his hands, feet, and eyes tied – before his captors abandoned him. It was only after local people and police found him that he realised he was in Shillong.

Recalling the psychological trauma, the BNP leader said, "When they took me to the mental hospital there, I genuinely thought I would have to spend the rest of my life like a madman."

Salahuddin was first reported missing on 10 March 2015. He was found 63 days later on 10 May 2015 in Shillong, Meghalaya.

He subsequently remained in India for almost nine years due to legal complications and proceedings related to his entry into the country. His path home was finally cleared following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024, and he returned to Bangladesh on 11 August 2024.