Family members of enforced disappearance victims and human rights activists at a human chain in Rajshahi on Friday urged the government to find the whereabouts of their missing relatives and bring the perpetrators to book.
Human rights group Odhikar organised the human chain in the Saheb Bazar Zero Point area in Rajshahi city, on the occasion of the International Week in Support of Victims of Enforced Disappearance, commemorating the victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.
Over 50 family members of the enforced disappearance victims and human rights activists stood in silent protest, holding placards bearing photographs of their missing loved ones.
At the human chain, Saiful Islam Sagar, a student of Rajshahi College, said that he had not seen his father in the past eight years.
鈥業n moments of loneliness, I hear my father鈥檚 voice and I can鈥檛 sleep at night,鈥�
Sagar said, adding that he did not know whether his father was dead or alive. Journalist Moin Uddin, also a Rajshahi coordinator of Odhikar, placed a five-point demand at the human chain, including the whereabouts of all victims of enforced disappearance.
The other demands are 鈥� withdrawal of false charges filed against individuals who reappeared after being disappeared, initiating diplomatic negotiations between the Bangladesh government and Indian authorities to investigate whether additional victims of enforced disappearance remained in India as some of previously disappeared individuals were later found there, holding all individuals responsible for enforced disappearances accountable through legal proceedings and ensuring their prosecution in the International Crimes Tribunal, and rehabilitating the families of the enforced disappearance victims.
