Ex-Bangladesh Textile Minister Arrested After Crackdown On Awami League Officials

Bangladesh’s former Textile and Jute Minister, Golam Dastagir Gazi, has been arrested as part of a crackdown on officials and ministers from the ousted government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to media reports on Sunday.

The 76-year-old politician was detained late on Saturday night in the Piergoli area of Dhaka. According to Officer-in-Charge Mollah Mohammad Khalid Hussain of Paltan police station, Gazi was apprehended around 3 am. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police then took him to the Detective Branch (DB) office, as the local police station had been damaged in recent violence.

Details regarding the specific charges against Gazi were not disclosed, though it was mentioned that a murder case had been filed against 105 individuals, including Gazi and Hasina, at Rupganj police station in Narayanganj. Gazi had been elected as a Member of Parliament for the Rupganj-1 constituency in Narayanganj during the 12th parliamentary elections in January under the Awami League’s boat symbol.

On the same day, a Dhaka court placed several other prominent figures, including Salman F Rahman, former law minister Anisul Huq, and former social welfare minister Dipu Moni, on remand for questioning in connection with four murder cases. Additional arrests include former chief whip ASM Feroz and former army officer Major General Ziaul Ahsan.

These arrests follow massive protests against the quota reform system in Bangladesh, which led to Hasina’s resignation and her subsequent flight to India on August 5. Since her resignation, many Awami League leaders have gone into hiding, and numerous party members have been jailed. The new interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, took charge on August 8, following the fall of Hasina’s government.