BNP leader Hafizuddin seeks HC's permission to go aboard

BNP Vice Chairman Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed today filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of government action that prevented him from travelling to India.

In the petition, he appealed to the HC for passing an order upon the authorities concerned of the government to allow him to leave Bangladesh and then return from abroad.

The HC may hold hearing of the petition tomorrow, his lawyer Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal told reporters.

The 79-year-old opposition leader told The Daily Star yesterday that he was scheduled to undergo a surgery at a Delhi hospital today.

He and his wife were about to board a plane at Dhaka airport and their bags were already checked in around 12:00pm yesterday when immigration police asked them to wait.

After nearly three hours, he was told that there was a travel restriction for him, Hafizuddin said.

"The authorities did not tell us why. My wife was allowed to go abroad. But I could not," Hafizuddin said.

Preferring not to be named, an officer of the special branch (immigration) said a certain intelligence agency barred Hafizuddin from travelling because of a lawsuit filed against him.