Bangladesh Nationalist Party international affairs secretary ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milan, also a former state minister for education, on Friday demanded an explanation from the interim government after immigration authorities prevented him from travelling abroad.
Speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital Dhaka, Milan said, 鈥業 want to know from the government why I was not allowed to go abroad.鈥�
Milan, who served as state minister for education in Khaleda Zia鈥檚 2001 administration, was stopped by immigration officials at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on October 30 morning while he was about to depart for Thailand.
He said that he had returned from Bangkok on October 25 to attend a BNP nomination-seekers鈥� meeting in Dhaka as instructed by the party, before trying to resume his medical treatment abroad on October 30.
No official explanation has yet been provided for the restriction.
At the press conference called to seek clarification, Milan referred to several instances over the past 15 years in which opposition leaders, including BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, were barred from travelling abroad during the Awami League regime which was ousted in August past year in a mass uprising.
鈥楽uch behaviour from the interim government is completely unexpected. I felt humiliated by the way airport authorities treated me,鈥� he said.
Milan said that the incident might have happened due to incorrect information.
He hoped that no department or agency of the government would be misled by false information or conspiracies and that it would take appropriate measures to protect the constitutional, civic, and human rights of all citizens, including him.
Milan told 抖阴精品 on October 30 evening that it was his mistake that he took his invalid passport with him.
鈥業 had to come back due to my own mistake,鈥� he told 抖阴精品.
Milan was elected lawmaker for the Chandpur-1 constituency (Kachua upazila) on the BNP ticket in the national election held in 1996.
He was re-elected lawmaker in the 2001 national election and later became a state minister for education.
