Pabna upazila ex-chairman detained at Dhaka airport

Pabna Sadar Upazila Parishad former chairman Sohel Hasan Shahin, general secretary of local Awami League unit, was detained by immigration police on Tuesday evening at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka while allegedly attempting to flee the country.

The detention was confirmed by Pabna Sadar Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdus Salam. Shahin is a resident of Baliyahalot area under Pabna Municipality. He is one of the key accused in multiple cases related to a deadly attack on the student-led anti-discrimination movement in Pabna on August 4 last year.

According to the OC, immigration police intercepted Shahin during his departure process and, after initial questioning, planned to hand him over to the Airport Police Station. Pabna police is bringing him back to Pabna, he added.

The cases against Shahin stem from a tragic incident on August 4, when a peaceful sit-in organized by the anti-discrimination student movement at Pabna’s Traffic Intersection was suddenly attacked. Witnesses and case documents state that former Vangura Union Chairman and Upazila Awami League Organizing Secretary Abu Sayeed Khan and his associates opened indiscriminate fire on the gathering. Two students were killed on the spot.

A second wave of gunfire allegedly involved former Member of Parliament Golam Faruk Prince and other Awami League leaders and activists, injuring several more students.

Following the violence, two separate cases were filed with Pabna Sadar Police Station—one murder case naming 103 individuals, and another attempted murder case naming 124 individuals, along with several unidentified Awami League activists.

Shahin had been elected chairman of Pabna Sadar Upazila in the previous year’s upazila elections.