Ariful Haque Choudhury ( bn, আরিফুল হক চৌধুরী) is a
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...
politician and the current mayor of
Sylhet
Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...
. Choudhury is also an executive member of
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...
. In 2003, he was elected as commissioner of
Sylhet City Corporation
Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) is a self-governing organisation which governs the municipal areas of Sylhet. This civic body of Sylhet
Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative se ...
.
He become Mayor for consecutive 2 terms since 2013.
Career
Ariful Hoque Choudhury surrendered to joint forces on 25 February 2007 in Sylhet after emergency law was declared in Bangladesh. He was a ward commissioner of Sylhet City Corporation. He was also the chief of development committee of Sylhet City Corporation.
On 19 June 2007, Haji Dilar Ahmed, a contractor, sued Choudhury for extorting 1.5 million taka from him over awarding a contract for road construction with Kotwali Police Station. Anti-Corruption Commission sued Choudhury for accumulating 26.3 million taka in illegal wealth through corruption with Sylhet Police Station on 9 September 2007.
Choudhury is a former President of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Sylhet unit.
He and his wife, Shyama Haque Chowdhury, was sued on 5 March 2008 by
Anti-Corruption Commission. He was accused of accumulating 25 million taka in illegal wealth through corruption.
On 23 June 2008, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment over the case.
His wife was sentenced to three years imprisonment in the case.
On 9 April 2013, Choudhury was acquitted on the corruption case filled by Anti-Corruption Commission.
Choudhury became the mayor of
Sylhet
Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...
city by defeating
Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran
Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran ( bn, বদর উদ্দিন আহমেদ কামরান; 1 January 1951 – 15 June 2020) was a Bangladeshi politician and the first mayor of Sylhet City, a role he was elected to twice. In 2013, he lost t ...
in June 2013. Arif won the election by more than 35,000 votes.
Choudhury was a follower of
Saifur Rahman {{Short description, Male name
Saifur Rahman (Saudi Arabia ar, سيف الرحمن }) is a male Muslim given name, meaning ''sword of the Most Gracious''.
سيفور meaning Saifur in arabic.
This may refer to:
*Akhundzada Saif-ur-Rahman Mubara ...
, former
Finance Minister of Bangladesh
The Finance Minister of Bangladesh heads the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Bangladesh. It is one of the most important positions in the Cabinet and the Finance Minister must deal with all the other departments and plays an important role ...
and Member of Parliament from
Sylhet-1
Sylhet-1 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh since 2019 by AK Abdul Momen of the Awami League.
Boundaries
The constituency encompasses Sylhet City Corporation and Sylhet Sadar Upazila.
Histo ...
.
After his win, he completed the Saifur Rahman Shishu Park in Sylhet and sent it for approval to the relevant ministry.
The approval was refused as the Awami League government were not keen to open a park named after a Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader.
He tried to open it under two different names, 'Sylhet Natural Park' and 'Dakshin Surma Park', but was still refused permission by the government.
The government of Bangladesh renamed the park to 'Jananetri Sheikh Hasina Shishu Park' and announced it will be opened soon in 2021.
On 13 November 2014, Bangladesh Police added him to a supplementary charge sheet they filled over the
Shah A M S Kibria
Shah Abu Muhammad Shamsul Kibria (Bengali: শাহ্ আবু মুহাম্মদ শামসুল কিবরিয়া ; 1 May 193127 January 2005), known as SAMS Kibria or Shams Kibria, was a Bangladeshi economist, diplomat ...
murder case from 2005. The new charge sheet also included
GK Gaus, Mayor of
Habiganj
Habiganj ( bn, হবিগঞ্জ) is a major town and district headquarters of Habiganj District in the division of Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Population: Total population of Habiganj is about 95,000
Railroad
*Habiganj Bazar–Shaistaganj–Ba ...
, and
Harris Chowdhury
Abul Harris Chowdhury (born 1 November 1952) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Political Secretary of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. He was the Joint Secretary General of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Chowdhury was sentenced to ...
, former political secretary to
Khaleda Zia
Khaleda Zia (; born Khaleda Khanam Putul in 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Ba ...
.
He was arrested after surrendered to the court on this case on 30 December 2014.
On 7 January 2015, Choudhury was suspended by
from his post of mayor after being charged in the
Shah A M S Kibria
Shah Abu Muhammad Shamsul Kibria (Bengali: শাহ্ আবু মুহাম্মদ শামসুল কিবরিয়া ; 1 May 193127 January 2005), known as SAMS Kibria or Shams Kibria, was a Bangladeshi economist, diplomat ...
murder case. He was then sacked from his post.
Choudhury had his acquittal verdict on the corruption charges scrapped by Bangladesh Supreme Court on 15 January 2016.
On 27 March 2016, Choudhury received bail on the Shah A M S Kibria murder case.
Choudhury was released from Sylhet Central Jail after receiving bail from Bangladesh Supreme Court on 5 January 2017 which upheld his bail order issued by Bangladesh High Court on 11 December 2016. On 13 March 2017, Bangladesh High Court issued a stay order on Choudhury's suspension from the post of Mayor of Sylhet.
A bench of
Bangladesh Supreme Court, Appellate Division
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is the appellate court in Bangladesh. The Appellate Division is the final court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases, with appellate review authority over judgements of the High Co ...
led by Justice
Surendra Kumar Sinha
Surendra Kumar Sinha (born 1 February 1951), commonly known as SK Sinha is a Bangladeshi lawyer and jurist who served as the 21st Chief Justice of Bangladesh. He resigned from the position in November 2017 amid the 16th amendment verdict controve ...
agreed with the High Court order and announced that there was no restriction on Choudhury resuming his office on 23 March 2017.
Choudhury was suspended from his post of mayor of Sylhet by Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives on 2 April 2017.
The Ministry also suspended
Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, mayor of Rajshahi and also a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician.
Choudhury was nominated by Bangladesh Nationalist Party to contest the 2018 mayoral election in Sylhet. He protested outside the office of deputy commissioner of
Sylhet Metropolitan Police over the arrest of Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists who were campaigning on his re-election. He was re-elected mayor of Sylhet on 12 August 2018.
He beat the Awami League candidate Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran by 6,196 votes.
He had also faced a rebel candidate, Badruzzaman Selim, of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and another candidate, Ehsanul Mahbub Jubayer, from
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জামায়াতে ইসলামী, Bānglādēsh Jāmāyatē Islāmī, Bangladesh Islamic Assembly), previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, or Jamaat for short, was ...
. Foyzul Haque Raju, an activist of
Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal
Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal ( bn, জাতীয়তাবাদী ছাত্রদল ''Jatiyôtabadee Chhatrô Dôl''), also known as ''J.C.D'', is the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Many of the top BNP leade ...
, died in fractional clashes near Choudhury's home after celebrating his election victory that day. He was sworn in on 5 September 2018 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On 28 August 2018,
Bangladesh High Court
The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate D ...
ordered Bangladesh government to handover Choudhury's passport to him. The passport was confiscated after he had received bail from
Shah A M S Kibria
Shah Abu Muhammad Shamsul Kibria (Bengali: শাহ্ আবু মুহাম্মদ শামসুল কিবরিয়া ; 1 May 193127 January 2005), known as SAMS Kibria or Shams Kibria, was a Bangladeshi economist, diplomat ...
murder case.
In August 2019, Choudhury announced a 7.89 billion taka budget, including 2 billion taka allocation for infrastructure project from Bangladesh government, for
Sylhet City Corporation
Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) is a self-governing organisation which governs the municipal areas of Sylhet. This civic body of Sylhet
Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative se ...
. On 28 September 2019, Choudhury filed a general diary with Kotwali Police Station over threats he received on the phone.
22 councillors of Sylhet City Corporation out of a total 36 councillors filled a complaint against Choudhury with Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives over corruption allegation and called for his removal.
Some of the councillors would later tell the press that they did not call for his removal but for an investigation of specific corruption allegation against him.
On 10 September 2020, Choudhury tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh
The COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020. The first ...
. His wife had tested positive in June 2020 and recovered at home.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haque Choudhury, Ariful
Living people
People from Sylhet
1959 births
Mayors of Sylhet
Bangladesh Nationalist Party politicians