ANOTHER two names have been added to the list of ‘enforced disappearances’ by law enforcing agencies, reported an English daily on Friday. Relatives of the victims could not know the whereabouts of the two businessmen who were abducted from their business houses in separate incidents in the capital on Wednesday. The DB Police who are reportedly involved in one case have denied it as usual saying the DB was not aware of any such arrest or detention. However, relatives of the abducted businessman Abdullah Al Mamun, owner of a travel agency in the capital’s Bijoynagar area claimed, he was detained from his office by men posing as detective police.
In another case, a grocery owner was abducted by unidentified persons from Shyamoli in the city on the same day. The grocer Joynal went out of the shop for a walk and did not return. Few hours later, the relatives received a call saying that he was kidnapped.
However, the latest two abductions either by law enforcing agencies or by criminal gangs depict the scenario of the low law and order situation of the country. This proves the endless failure of the government to stop abductions, disappearances, and torture and its apathy to the appeal of the citizens to ensure ‘guarantee of normal death’.
Nearly 4,000 people were abducted across Bangladesh between 2010 and 2013, according to a survey conducted by different rights bodies published on April 30 this year. Human Rights Organisation, Odhikar has recorded that 75 people were abducted by different law enforcement agencies in almost two years. Twenty eight of those who were abducted returned alive, but 12 have been found dead and another 35 people remain missing. In 61 cases, eye-witnesses identified men from either the Rapid Action Batallion or the Detective Branch of the Police as responsible for the kidnapping. According to Human Rights Organisation, Ain-o-Salish Kendra, the numbers of alleged disappearances in the same period are more than twice that number. Many of the men subjected to enforced disappearances were actively involved mostly in opposition political parties.
We repeatedly express our concern over the downward spiral of the human rights situation in the country and again ask the government to take a hard look at the conduct of the members of the security forces. If the private perpetrators are involved in such heinous crimes, then the ultimate responsibility goes to the security forces to detect the criminals. If it does not do so, an odious nexus between the security men and the abductors can be inferred. A politicized police force, a sluggish chain of command and control in almost every security agency, and the mid-level officials having political patronage are mainly responsible for these ghastly crimes. The government should respond to the repeated calls by both national and international human rights organizations and the media. The incumbent government must stop enforced disappearances, tortures and deaths in custody.
