Bangladesh families fight for justice against enforced disappearances – ThePrint – PTIFeed

Dhaka, Sept 1 (PTI) – In a dimly lit room in Dhaka, baby Akhtar holds a faded photograph of her husband Tarikul Islam Tara, who disappeared 12 years ago, allegedly after being abducted by Bangladesh's security forces – a personal tragedy that reflects the larger nightmare of enforced disappearances that has plagued Bangladesh for the past 15 years.

“I have been waiting for my husband for 12 years. My life and my family were destroyed through no fault of my own. We want justice. We hope that the transitional government will give us justice. I want my husband back,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

With Hasina's departure, the interim government took an important step and set up a commission to investigate these cases.

However, for the families still waiting, the establishment of the commission is both a glimmer of hope and a reminder of the years lost in their quest for justice, given the nearly 700 recorded cases of enforced disappearances in the last decade and a half of the Awami League regime.

“During the Sheikh Hasina regime, enforced disappearances were commonplace. For the families of the disappeared, the establishment of the commission is a momentous occasion. We hope that after 15 years of this struggle, we will finally get justice,” Sanjida Islam Tulee, coordinator of Mayer Daak – an NGO working with the families of the disappeared – told PTI.

“This terror of enforced disappearances has been used to suppress political opposition, silence dissent and create a climate of fear in the country. Over the past decade and a half, the families of victims of enforced disappearances have been systematically denied legal recourse. Although about 700 cases have been registered, the actual numbers are much higher,” she said.

The Commission of Inquiry recently set up by the interim government of Bangladesh, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and including legal and human rights experts, is offering a glimmer of hope to the beleaguered families by investigating and tracing the cases of the disappeared persons.

This development came shortly after the new government signed the United Nations Convention against Enforced Disappearances, signalling its commitment to combating these serious human rights violations.

On the occasion of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances in 2024, human rights organizations, including Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Capital Punishment Justice Project, International Federation for Human Rights, and Mayer Daak, Odhikar and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, issued a joint statement condemning the systematic cases of enforced disappearances committed by Bangladeshi law enforcement and security forces under the ousted government of Sheikh Hasina.

According to a statement by Odhikar, a non-governmental organization that advocates for justice for victims of enforced disappearances, data it collected shows that 709 people were victims of enforced disappearances by Bangladeshi law enforcement and security forces between January 2009 and June 2024.

“471 of them have been found alive or brought before the court. 83 victims were found dead, some of them are said to have been caught in the crossfire of the security forces. To date, 155 people are missing,” the statement said.

Human rights activists and their families have pointed out that victims of enforced disappearances are being held in secret detention centres known as “aina ghar” or “mirror rooms”, one of which is reportedly located in Dhaka Cantonment and others across the country run by various security agencies.

Human rights activists pointed out that the recent release of some victims who had been held in secret detention for years confirmed long-rejected allegations of enforced disappearances under the ousted Hasina government.

Human rights activist Michael Chakma, who spent the last six years in secret cells and was only released after Hasina's overthrow, recalled the horror he experienced in extrajudicial detention.

“I was beaten every day and tortured beyond belief. I never thought about getting out and thought I would die there. In the last six years, I can hardly remember the last time I saw the sunlight. There were many others like me in those cells,” he told reporters.

Political parties such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami also complained about several cases in which their activists and supporters had become victims of enforced disappearances.

“The Awami League has made enforced disappearance an institutionalised weapon against the opposition to suppress dissidents. There are at least more than 600 cases of abductions and enforced disappearances of BNP workers and supporters. Although many of them returned home after several years, most of them were not the same. Yet there are hundreds of such BNP workers who have been victims of enforced disappearances across Bangladesh,” senior BNP politician Sama Obayed told PTI.

The Jamaat-e-Islami also reported similar experiences.

The Awami League regime had unleashed a reign of terror across the country and used enforced disappearances as a weapon to intimidate the opposition. The Jamaat has suffered the most from such practices. “Yet, even three weeks after the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, there are no reports of what happened to them,” said Shafiqur Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. PTI PNT NSA AMS

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