For the first time since the country’s independence, Cox’s Bazar has secured a full cabinet minister, with Cox’s Bazar–1 lawmaker and BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed taking oath as home minister in the new cabinet of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad.
He was sworn in at 4:20 pm on Tuesday at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the capital, where he took the oath of office before President Mohammad Shahabuddin. The cabinet division also issued an official gazette notification detailing the portfolio allocation on the same day.
Since independence, Cox’s Bazar district had not received full representation in the cabinet for an extended period. Following the formation of the BNP-led four-party alliance government in 2001, Salahuddin Ahmed served as state minister for communications, becoming the first state minister from Cox’s Bazar in the post-independence era. His latest appointment as a full minister marks a new milestone in the district’s political history.
In the 13th parliamentary election held on February 12, he was elected from the Cox’s Bazar–1 constituency, defeating a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate by a margin of 95,830 votes. He had earlier been elected as a member of parliament from the same constituency in 1996 and 2001.
Salahuddin Ahmed’s political career has seen significant turbulence. On March 10, 2015, during a period of political unrest, he reportedly went missing and resurfaced 62 days later in Shillong, India. After a prolonged legal process, he returned to Bangladesh on August 11, 2024. Upon his return, he resumed active politics, contested the election, and secured victory.
Local political leaders said that the appointment of the district’s first full minister since independence would enhance Cox’s Bazar’s administrative importance and development prospects. They expressed hope that, as a tourism-dependent district, Cox’s Bazar would see positive changes in infrastructure, law and order, and overall security.
The recognition of having the first full cabinet minister in the post-independence period is now being viewed as a matter of pride for the people of Cox’s Bazar.
By Abdu Rashid Manik
Photo: Collected
