The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has left the country on Tuesday (May 28) morning for a 12-day tour of three countries; the acting director of Biman’s customer care department, Atiq Sobhan, was supposed be on the flight but was turned back for security reasons, confirmed several officials of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
As per the Standard Operating Procedure of VIP flights, the MD of Biman always accompanies the president or the PM. But if that person cannot go for some reason then a representative can be chosen instead.
For the Japan trip, acting MD of Biman captain, Farhat Hossain Jamil selected acting director Atiq Sobhan.
However, based on directives by the security forces, Biman authority asked Atiq not to come to the airport. In the past, security always had reservations about Atiq and never allowed security clearance for him for any programme of the PM.
Captain Farhat Jamil was withdrawn from flying last September during the PM’s return flight from London. He boarded the plane but was later offloaded. No one at Biman wanted to comment on this and Farhat was not available over phone or text message.