by Nurul Amin in Prothom Alo, Aug 30, 2023
When Md Sohel from Bangshal in Old Dhaka went missing, his daughter Safa was just two months old. Now 10-year-old Safa is a third grader. Many of her classmates go to school holding hands of their fathers, and tell stories of their father to other classroomates. But Safa has no such stories. Instead, she asks her Mother Nilufar Yesmin, where her father is. She wants to go to school with her father. Nilufar Yesmin has no answer.
Md Sohel was president of Bangshal thana unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, when he went missing along with three others from Shahbagh area in the capital on 2 December, 2013.
A law enforcement agency members picked them up just two weeks prior to the parliament election in 2014, as alleged by Nilufar Yesmin. Since then no one knows their whereabouts.
Speaking to Prothom Alo on Tuesday, Nilufar said, “I’m still waiting for Sohel to return.”
Relatives of many such missing persons have been waiting like Nilufar for the return of their loved ones. The number of such persons who went missing at different times in the last 13 years is 153, according to Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), an international rights organisation.
The Hong Kong-based rights organisation also said as many as 623 people were victims of enforced disappearance in the country between 2009 and 2022. Eighty four of them were found dead while 383 either returned alive or shown arrested later. Nothing could be learned about three persons, it added.
From the very beginning, the government and law enforcement agencies have consistently denied any involvement in enforced disappearances. Responsible figures within the government have repeatedly provided explanations that either the individuals in question went into hiding voluntarily or tragically drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
The country is observing the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Wednesday, 30 August, in such a context.
The allegation of enforced disappearance is not completely new as there were some such allegations raised during the tenures of different governments in the past. But the matter came into public discussion widely in the country since BNP leader Ilias Ali went missing in 2012.
The de facto opposition party, however, also claimed that another party leader, Chowdhury Alam, was also a victim of enforced disappearance in Dhaka before the incident of Ilias Ali.
The allegations of enforced disappearance started soaring in 2013 and 2014, immediately before and after the 10th parliament election.
BNP alleged that fear was spread among the partymen by picking up key leaders and activists before the polls and afterwards to stop nationwide movement.
The allegations of enforced disappearance peaked in three consecutive years in the run-up to 11th parliament election in December, 2018.
The victims included not only the BNP leaders and activists, but also the leaders of ruling Awami League’s student organisation and the labour rights activists.
In January, 2016, plainclothesmen picked up Rampura thana unit leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League, Moazzem Hossain alias Apu, from a house in Bhatara area in Dhaka. Moazzem’s family still hopes he will return someday.
Speaking to Prothom Alo on Tuesday, his elder brother Mainul Hasan, also a physician, said, “We meet people from higher echelon of the government to high officials in the law enforcement agency for my brother. We requested them to find my younger brother. They said we are looking into it. But we know nothing about Moazzem as of now. We are still hoping he might return someday.”
He also said his father has already passed away and his mother has also taken to bed thinking about her younger son.
“My brother was picked up due to enmity over politics. We shall not lodge any complaint regarding this if we get back my brother,” he said.
https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/crime-and-law/bz4bcxvlfv
