Former state minister Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj said he is “surprised and astonished” after being barred from traveling to the United States at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
Immigration officials stopped him on Wednesday and sent him back, according to a senior officer of the Special Branch (SB) who confirmed the incident Friday night.
Speaking to media on Saturday, the son of Bangladesh’s first prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad said he had no idea why immigration authorities prevented him from traveling. “I went abroad several times after August 5. Nobody said anything then. Suddenly they stopped me—why?” he said.
“I have contacted the relevant government authorities and I am waiting to hear what they say. I am truly surprised. Why did the government do this to me?” Sohel Taj added.
He said he had traveled abroad multiple times since the formation of the interim government, including a trip to the US as recently as June. “I am surprised and shocked to be stopped this time,” he said, adding that he expects the matter to be clarified by Sunday.
Asked whether the restriction was linked to the ongoing investigation into the 2009 BDR mutiny, Sohel Taj replied he would speak on the issue later. “I will be able to say something about it tomorrow,” he said.
On July 17, Sohel Taj and his elder sister Sharmin Ahmad met interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the state guesthouse Jamuna to invite him to the centenary celebration of their father Tajuddin Ahmad.
