The High Court yesterday asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and the government officials concerned to explain on which grounds war criminal Ghulam Azam’s wife and his nephew were given VIP status at the Dhaka airport recently.
Questioning the legality of the action, the court issued a rule on its own volition asking the CAAB chairman, home secretary and four other government officials to explain in two weeks about the incident that took place on April 8.
The bench of Justice Quazi Rezaul Haque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman also asked the CAAB chairman to submit a report by May 12 regarding what steps have been taken against the officials responsible for such an act.
The judges came up with the rule and order following a report published in Bangla daily Janakantha on April 9.
Supreme Court lawyer Muntasir Uddin Ahmed placed the report before it, mentioning that as per a previous order, the war criminals’ family members cannot be given VIP status anywhere.
The court fixed May 12 for passing further order on this issue, Muntasir said.
According to the news report, Ghulam Azam’s wife Asifa Azam and his nephew Lutfur Kabir were scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia on April 8. They tried to use the VIP immigration counter and before that officials concerned of the airport had also allowed them to wait in a VIP room.
But intelligence officials barred them at the counter and informed senior officials about their identities. After that both were sent back home.
The detectives found that the airport’s director, Group Captain MK Zakir Hasan, had arranged the duo VIP status concealing information and their identities.
