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Nahid Islam, Abu Baker Mazumdar, and Asif Mahmud, three coordinators of Students Movement Against Discrimination, a platform for quota reform movements, were allegedly picked up by members of security agencies from a hospital in the capital’s Dhanmondi area on Friday afternoon. 

The security agencies also picked up a ward boy of Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital along with the protesters, according to doctors of the hospital and the protesters. 

Nahid, Abu Baker, and Asif went missing in the previous week and reappeared with injuries amid the countrywide curfew and army deployment.

The agency members also seized the phones of Nahid’s mother and wife, along with Abu Baker Mazumdar and Asif Mahmud.

Fatima Tasnim, a family friend of Nahid Islam, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the six to seven people, identifying themselves as members of several intelligence agencies, including the detective branch of police, picked up Nahid, Asif, Abu Baker, and a ward boy of the hospital at about 3:30pm.

‘Nahid was shivering with fear when they wanted to take him. When I asked them why they were taking Nahid, they threatened to pick me up, saying that I was also involved in the movement,› she said. 

She said that she was afraid that they would kill Nahid.

‘The intelligence members also took a ward boy of the hospital who served them food,’ Fatima said.

When asked about the latest development, Dhaka Metropolitan Police detective branch chief Harun-or-Rashid said he heard about it but claimed he was not confirmed. 

Confirming their detention, Sarijs Alam, another coordinator, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Friday afternoon that  police and plainclothes barred him from meeting Nahid and Asif when he went to the hospital on Wednesday and Thursday.

‘Police threatened to arrest me if I wanted to meet them,’ he added.

Nahid was admitted to the hospital on June 21 with injuries 26 hours after he was allegedly picked up by DB police at about 2:30am on Saturday from his friend’s house in the capital’s Khilgaon area.

He found himself semi-conscious in the Purbachal area on Sunday morning.

Asif also reappeared on Wednesday morning, about five days after he went missing, and he was also admitted to the health facility that day.

Abu Baker Mazumdar, who went missing from the capital’s Dhanmondi area on Friday night, also reappeared on Wednesday. 

In a Facebook post, he alleged that he was forced to issue a statement, but he did not do so. 

Doctors and duty doctors of the hospital anonymously told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that Nahid and Asif’s health conditions did not warrant their discharge.

The student leaders’ alleged detention came a day after they demanded the withdrawal of curfew and the reopening of campuses. 

Asif and the platform’s co-coordinator, Rifat Rashid, shared a Facebook post on Thursday, citing it as the message of their coordinator, Nahid.

‘Now our four-point demands are the reopening of the internet, the reopening of all campuses, removing members of law enforcement agencies, the withdrawal of curfew, and ensuring the security of all platform coordinators,’ they said in similar Facebook posts shared separately.

‘Though two of our demands have been partially met, campuses have to be reopened and curfew has to be withdrawn at the earliest possible time,’ they said.