Sylhet mayor Ariful suspended

The government has suspended Sylhet City Corporation mayor and BNP leader Ariful Haque Chowdhury.

The local government division, which issued the suspension order, said holding of the office by Ariful, now detained in a killing case, would be repugnant to public interest.

Ariful was elected Sylhet city major defeating the previous mayor, the Awami League's Badaruddin Kamran in elections held in 2013.

GK Gaus, mayor of Habiganj Pourashava (municipality) and general secretary of the district BNP, has also been suspended, according to another order issued on Wednesday.

Gaus, too, was named as an accused in the charge-sheet of killing case of Shah AMS Kibria, a former finance minister of the 1996 Awami League administration.

Both of them were included in the supplementary charge-sheet of the case last November. They also surrendered to the police after the court issued warrant of arrest against them. They are now in jail.

In the order, the local government division said Ariful has been suspended as per City Corporation Act 2009.

Haris Chowdhury, a former political secretary to BNP chief Khaleda Zia when she was the prime minister, is one of the accused in the Kibria killing case. Kibria was killed in a grenade attack in January 2005.