FIVE separate reports, as a response to the High Court's directive, were submitted to the attorney general's office yesterday by the law enforcing agencies stating that none of them has arrested the BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed.

The disappearance of a well known political figure is deeply disturbing. According to his family, some plainclothes men showing Detective Branch ID cards picked up Salahuddin from a house in Uttara on the night of March 10. If the police had not picked him up, then are we to believe that there is a well organised group in the city posing as DB men capable of carrying out such an operation with impunity? In that case it is a serious breach of our internal security, something that should have triggered an immediate and massive response of the police, which we did not see happen. Not only that, the local police even refused to register a missing person's case which Salahuddin's wife wanted to register. This has raised a question mark on the veracity of the police statements.     

Feigning ignorance by the government of such a big matter will not wash with the public. Similar denial was made in the case of Manna who was eventually found in Rab custody after 17 hours. This is not the way that the legal system should work under law. A prominent political figure has gone missing and the responsibility of the police cannot end with their denial of having to do anything with his arrest. A vigorous operation must be launched immediately to trace out Salahuddin.