S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the low order leader fled alongside higher order AL through the Sylhet border, managing the police and BGB sometimes, and sometimes evading it. Many more are trying to escape. And in these activities, the brokers from here and there are active in collecting money from one place to another.
It is not just that you can escape through the border. Some are being caught by mobs at the border. Death is also happening while escaping.
It has been found that on August 5, the AL government collapsed due to public anger in the movement of students. Sheikh Hasina fled the country. On August 4, many leaders and workers of A League took to the streets with local and foreign firearms. But after a day they went into hiding. In such a situation, they flocked to the border area of Sylhet. They started fleeing the country by managing local and Indian brokers. Former ministers, former mayors, MPs and other leaders of various levels of AL. Each person has to count from Tk 5 to 10 lakh to cross the border through brokers.
It is known that Sylhet’s Jaintapur, Jokiganj, Kanaighat, Goainghat, Companiganj and Bianibazar upazilas have a long history of drug smuggling in the country through hundreds of places along the border.
But now A League party leaders and activists have used Dana border of Kanighat and Sutarkandi border of Jokiganj as a safe route to escape from the country. Although they crossed the border at Kanighat with the help of local brokers from both sides, a former MP and his followers let the A League activists cross the border in exchange of a large sum of money.
Several local sources have even informed that several leaders and activists were sheltered in the madrasa orphanage of that MP. As Madrasa Orphanage is a religious institution and the former MP has many followers in the area, the locals did not dare to raid. Using that opportunity, the former MP and his followers helped the Awami League leaders and activists to escape across the border.
Talking to several people living in India’s Karimganj area, it is known that from the top of the A League, various levels of leaders and activists have been staying there. Some are also staying in hotels. The source said that some people are staying in houses on rent. However, even though they are across the border, they have not been seen in public much. Sitting there, some have migrated to other countries, while others are in visa processing to migrate to other countries.