DHAKA: Bangladesh has claimed three student leaders had been held for their own safety following the government blamed their protests against job quotas for days of deadly countrywide unrest.
Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior leaders of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from a hospital and then kidnapped by a group of plainclothes detectives.
The street protests organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running deadly clashes between officials and protesters that killed around 201 people.
Nahid Islam earlier said he was being treated at the hospital in Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police custody. Police had initially dismissed that Islam and his two fellows were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan admitted on Friday. He claimed that they themselves were feeling insecure and thought that some elements were threatening them.
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Khan said that that’s why they thought for their own security they needed to be investigated to find out who was threatening these students. He said that they would take next action after the probe. However, the minister did not confirm whether the trio had been officially arrested.
