Dhaka: Rights activists have expressed concern over the recent incidents of enforced disappearance.
At least 10 people, including a journalist, a university teacher, a publisher and political leaders, have gone missing since August 22. Some of them were picked up by unidentified people, said their family members.
Rights body Ain o Salish Kendra says 334 of the 524 people, who allegedly became victims of enforced disappearance between 2010 and October 2017 across the country, are still missing.
Many of those who returned to their families never disclosed anything to the media about their abductors.
Eminent rights activist Sultana Kamal yesterday said, “Whenever any citizen goes missing this way, it has to be understood that there is no security at all. People are going missing and the issue is not being resolved. Such a crime is an extreme violation of human rights.”
“I think the gravity of this crime is more than that of a murder,” she told The Daily Star. The government should take responsibility for such incidents and give highest priority to find those missing persons, she said.
Sultana said allegations have surfaced that members of security forces were involved in the mysterious disappearance of many people. “In many cases, it is seen that many are shown arrested after their families come up with statements [about the incidents],” she added.
National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque yesterday said free movement is one of the constitutional rights of the citizens and it is the duty of the state to ensure that.
“It is responsibility of the state to find the victims of abduction and enforced disappearance and return them to their families,” he said, demanding exemplary punishment to those responsible for the incidents.
The latest victim of the fresh incidents of disappearance is Tanvir Yasin Karim, owner of Karim International and Darus Salam Publications. He was picked up by plainclothes men on Wednesday.
North South University teacher Mubashar Hasan went missing on Tuesday. Journalist Utpal Das is traceless since October 10.
Mithun Chowdhury, president of newly-formed Bangladesh Janata Party, and his associate Ashit Ghosh were picked up allegedly by law enforcers in the city’s Sutrapur area on October 27.
Those who went missing in recent times include Mcgill University student Ishrak Ahmed Fahim, Bangladesh Kalyan Party Secretary General MM Aminur Rahman and BNP leader Syed Sadat Ahmed, also a businessman.
Kollol Hazra, a nephew of another victim, businessman Aniruddha Kumar, yesterday said they were yet to get the whereabouts of his uncle.
The case is same with Mubashar and Ishrak.
Moshiur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station, said they are now looking for a person with whom the NSU teacher had talked over the phone before going missing.
The SIM card is registered under the name of a person who lives in Tangail, he added.
Mubashar’s sister Tamanna Tasmin said her parents fell sick as her brother is still traceless.
Contacted yesterday, Ishrak’s father Jamal Uddin Ahmed said he wants his son back as soon as possible.http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/human-rights-activists-concerned-1489597
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