BETWEEN January 2009, when the Awami League government took office, and 2018, at least 507 people have fallen victims to enforced disappearance, according to the International Federation for Human Rights. Of them, 62 people were later found dead while 286 returned alive. The whereabouts of 159 is still unknown, the Paris-based rights body said.
In the first three months of this year, at least 12 people simply vanished in telltale signs of enforced disappearance. The figure was 92 last year. Seeking answers, family members of 25 victims gathered at the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday. The Committee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights organised the event. The families were joined by rights activists, civil society members and university teachers.
Speaking at the programme, most families alleged that their relatives were picked up by law enforcers, who say they have no hand in this. One recent victim is United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) leader Michael Chakma, who went missing on his way to Dhaka from Narayanganj on April 9.
It is unacceptable that in a so-called democracy deaths and disappearances occur without rhyme or reason. Even criminals have the right to a fair trial. Only in corrupt autocratic or dictatorial regimes such deaths occur with any regularity. Therefore it is most unacceptable that such deaths occur in a nation which prides itself of being democratic.
After all these years we still don’t know why the disappeared are picked up, and by whom. We don’t know whether they have committed any crimes or not. We don’t know why some end up being dead and why some return back alive. We don’t even know the fate of the truly missing–those unfortunate enough to be neither confirmed dead or alive.
Definitely all of these activities can’t go on without the support of higher ups in the administration. For the sake of justice, free speech, and the right to information the government should at least clarify the case of the missing and the disappeared. If information means that the grief of a mother or daughter would stop then it should be made public. The livings have a right to know about the dead–not the least because they are their near ones.
