Bangladesh ruling party lawmaker fears for life

IANS/DhakaAwami League lawmaker A K M Shamim Osman has expressed concern for the safety of the lives of his family members and himself.The ruling party member of parliament (MP) on Friday admitted that he spoke over telephone to Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the abduction and murders of seven men last month, bdnews24.com reported. Councillor Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted in Narayanganj April 27. Hossain is currently a fugitive from justice.Osman also sought security for Rafiur Rabbi, father of murdered teenager Tanvir Mohammad Twaki, who has been campaigning against the ruling party MP.Osman said Nagarik Andolan leader Rabbi’s’life could be in danger too.After admitting that he had a conversation with Hossain after the April 27 multiple abductions, Osman said: “But the report Prothom Alo ran was not complete and was motivated.”His remarks came after the Bangla-language daily carried a report on Friday on the audio clip of the telephone conversation between him and Hossain.The report said the conversation had taken place only two days after the abduction.Osman told reporters the audio clip was from an “intelligence agency”. “Those who released the tape did so to save themselves. I don’t know whether I will live tomorrow.”He pointed the finger at Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) asking why he was not arrested when the conversation with Nur was being recorded.“They use modern technology. (They) record our conversation and release it. If they had detected Nur Hossain’s whereabouts’ why he was not arrested?”The lawmaker from the ruling party claimed a RAB official had threatened him if he were to allege the elite force’s involvement in the seven murders.“A major-level officer of RAB called me over telephone and said ‘if I’m not saved, you won’t be either’.”“When I asked in return, ‘What?’, he said again ‘if we are not saved, you all won’t be saved either’.”The newspaper report on Friday said Osman had helped Narayanganj city’s ward-4 councillor Nur Hossain to flee Bangladesh.After their abductions on April 27, the bodies of Nazrul, senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar and five others were found floating on the Shitalakhyya river several days later.