Staff Reporter :
To ensure a free, fair, and neutral election of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), the association’s Executive Secretary, A H M Golam Kibria, issued letters to all panels and alliances interested in participating in the election, inviting them to hold a consultative meeting.
In a circular (Memo No. ATAB/Meeting/2025/467) dated 17 August 2025, addressed to ATAB members, he stated that the government has appointed an administrator to ensure transparency, accountability, and proper management of ATAB’s activities. The appointed administrator has already assumed his duties.
To conduct a free, fair, and transparent election, the ATAB Administrator will hold discussions with representatives of all participating panels and alliances. Each panel was requested to submit a list of 15 representatives for this purpose. After receiving the letter, on 21 August 2025, the panel of former ATAB President Abdus Salam Aref and Secretary General Afsia Jannat Saleh – known as the ATAB Democratic Front – sent a written request on their panel’s official letterhead, asking that all election-related activities be postponed.
When the ATAB Administrator, Motakabbir Ahmed, began the consultative meetings for the election, Abdus Salam Aref and Afsia Jannat Saleh, accompanied by 7-8 individuals, met with the administrator and demanded that the process be suspended. In response, the administrator said, “The government has appointed me to conduct a free, neutral, and acceptable election. I will complete a transparent and credible election as soon as possible and then step down.”
At that point, Afsia raised her voice and told the administrator, “You cannot stay here – someone else will replace you.”
It should be noted that after the government appointed the administrator on 4 August 2025, the dissolved committee withdrew Tk 2,500,000 (twenty-five lakh taka) in cash from ATAB’s bank account and locked the ATAB office before leaving. The administrator was prevented from entering the ATAB office for about six days, until 11 August.
