While the anxious countrymen expected the media to carry Azad's latest health-condition and have been making incessant phone calls to newspaper offices, the newspersons had been denied entrance to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for the last two days. They also received no information from the authorities of CMH, where the author of more than 50 books was rushed after one and a half-hour of the Friday's brutal machete attack.

Journalists could go to the visitors' waiting room at the CMH till Sunday. But since the following day, the authorities allowed only a selected number of people, excluding the journalists, to the room.

The CMH did not make any arrangement for updating the people on Azad's health or providing any details of his treatment.

The only means for the media professionals of knowing Azad's condition has been over the cell phone of his wife, who also has been under constant intelligence watch.

All what the CMH doctors told Azad's family till Monday was that he was kept under a 72-hour observation and they could not make any prognosis until the observation ended on Tuesday morning.

But questions arose why even the distressed family members of Professor Azad were under intelligence watch at the CMH and why they could not see him more than once a day.

The CMH authorities allowed only Azad's wife Latifa Kohinoor to enter the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to see the ailing professor during the last two days, once in the morning and the second in the night.

Barring Azad's friends, relatives, fans and political leaders from visiting him, the CMH authorities on Sunday asked his family for a list of seven relatives whom they would allow to visit him. Though the list was submitted the same day, the hospital authorities let no-one except Azad's wife Kohinoor, daughters Mouli and Smita and son Anonnyo to visit him since Monday.

Although an ISPR notice promised to bring out bulletins on Azad's condition time to time, so far we have received only two bulletins on Tuesday and yesterday.

When asked, some government officials, on condition of anonymity, came up with accounts of Azad's health that were contradicted by his family members. On Sunday and Monday, the officials claimed Azad regained his consciousness, but his family reported the opposite.

The family members also expressed exasperation as some newspapers published those 'false' statements made by the government high officials.

On expenses of Azad's treatment, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia announced from a public rally at Jatrabari last Saturday that her government would bear those. But his family has been paying all the medical expenses till Monday, with the bills for the last two days awaiting payment yesterday.