Dhaka: A two-star general of the Bangladesh Army, who was sacked a day after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government and has been linked to several enforced disappearances, was arrested by Bangladesh Police on a murder charge.
Maj Gen Ziaul Ahsan was one of the most influential army officers during Hasina’s rule and was considered very close to her. He is the first general to be arrested on a murder charge since the fall of Hasina’s government on August 5 following weeks of student-led protests.
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Ahsan was arrested in Khilkhet area of Dhaka on Thursday night, police said. “On a tip-off, former director general of NTMC [National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre] Ziaul Ahsan was arrested in connection of a case with New Market Police Station,” said a brief statement from Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that Ahsan was arrested in connection with the murder of street vendor Shahjahan Ali during clashes stemming from recent protests. On Wednesday, former law minister Anisul Haq and former adviser Salman F Rahman were arrested in the same case.
Over the years, Ahsan was accused of involvement in several extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the people said. There were also allegations the NTMC was misused by Hasina’s regime to conduct surveillance on her opponents, dissidents and rights activists.
A day after Hasina stepped down and fled to India, Ahsan was sacked by Bangladesh Army chief Gen Waker-uz-Zaman, and Maj Gen ASM Ridwanur Rahman was appointed the new director general of NTMC. This was part of a major shake-up of the army’s hierarchy.
The NTMC, a national-level intelligence agency, was responsible mainly for tapping phones and surveillance of social media. The Awami League government equipped the agency with cutting-edge technology for intelligence gathering.
Commissioned into the Bangladesh Army in 1991, Ahsan was a commando and paratrooper who also served in the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). He joined RAB as a deputy commander in March 2009, three months after the Awami League came to power. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel the same year and appointed director of RAB’s intelligence wing.
Ahsan was transferred to the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) as deputy director general, before being attached to the National Security Intelligence (NSI) as director in 2016. He became director of the NTMC in 2017. In 2022, the government created the post of director general and promoted Ahsan to fill the position.
On August 14, Mayer Dak, a civil society organisation, gave the interim government a 24-hour ultimatum to arrest those responsible for enforced disappearances during Hasina’s rule. The group’s demands included the arrest of Ahsan.
The organisation, which represents families of the disappeared, organised a human chain in front of the National Press Club and sought the return of those who have gone missing over the past 15 years, allegedly due to actions by state security forces.
Sanjida Islam Tuli, coordinator of Mayer Dak, said: “We are issuing a 24-hour ultimatum: Ziaul Aasan, Tarique Siddiqui and other officials implicated in these disappearances must be arrested immediately. They must provide information about the missing persons so they can be freed and reunited with their families.”