Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman on Monday said that the culture of disappearances had to be stopped and the state had to play a strong role in that regard to uphold human rights.
He said this in a statement issued on the occasion of International Week in Remembrance of Disappeared Persons.
Tarique Rahman said that about 666 people were abducted by the law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh between 2009 to March 2024.
鈥楢ccording to BNP estimates, the number of enforced disappearances will be several times higher. Most of them are still missing, many bodies have been found, and some have been shown arrested after a long time,鈥� he mentioned.
鈥楾his is an example of the brutal misrule of the previous Awami regime. The mentioned number is based on the reports given by the families of the enforced disappearances and many terrified families did not have the courage to report,鈥� he continued.
No trace of the people who were taken away by the law enforcement agencies had been found even in 10-15 years, the BNP acting chairman said.
The leaders, activists and supporters of the opposition political parties had been the most victims of the abduction incidents, he said, adding that the country鈥檚 businessmen, intellectuals and ordinary people had also been abducted.
鈥楢ccording to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, abducting a person is a crime against human rights. The culture of abduction must be stopped to uphold human rights,鈥� Tarique added.
