A forgotten fiery protest: Press Secretary's emotional post about Salahuddin Ahmed!

Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to the Chief Advisor, has shared an emotional memory of BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed. In a post on his verified Facebook account on Saturday morning, he highlighted Salahuddin's courageous role in BNP's difficult times and the brutal reality of state oppression.

The press secretary wrote, “When Salahuddin Ahmed was secretly serving as the BNP spokesperson in 2015, the political situation in the country was extremely tense. Khaleda Zia was kept under house arrest in her Gulshan office, and top leaders were in hiding or in prison. In such a context, Salahuddin’s statements sent through secret sources reached us every day—sharp, direct, and full of courage. Those statements seemed to directly challenge Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime.”

Shafiqul Alam said that he and French news agency AFP’s South Asia chief Chris Auton, with the help of British High Commissioner Robert Gibson, entered Khaleda Zia’s office and interviewed her. At that time, the political situation in the country was so sensitive that they were forced to enter there under the guise of the British High Commission.

He further wrote, “The statement written by Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was emotional but complex; in comparison, Salahuddin’s statement was full of brutal reality and, in a word, explosive. His statements were one of the most inflammatory protests in the history of BNP. Sheikh Hasina’s administration was so enraged that a massive arrest was ordered against Salahuddin.”

Salahuddin Ahmed was ‘kidnapped’ in early 2015 and was later seen in the Shillong area of ​​India. The Press Secretary respectfully recalled the bravery of his wife Hasina Ahmed, who at that time took a single stand in the international arena and in the media demanding her husband’s release.

He wrote, “Hasina Ahmed’s protest, international awareness and media pressure may have played a role in saving Salahuddin from being kidnapped and taking him to Shillong.”

At the end of the post, Shafiqul Alam lamented, “Today’s young BNP workers have forgotten those days of struggle. They may not even know what terrible repression the BNP survived through. The current times of political comfort seem to have covered up that burning history.”

The post sparked heated discussions on social media. Many are seeing Shafiqul Alam’s memoir as an important document in BNP’s history—a chapter that a generation may have forgotten in the flow of time.