Families of the victims who were forcibly disappeared during the Awami League regime on Saturday demanded to know the whereabouts of their relatives, decrying that many of the victims remained traceless although 10 months passed after the interim government had assumed office.
They also demanded that the Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforce Disappearance must bring the perpetrators to justice immediately and inform them聽 whether their relatives were alive or dead.
Their demand came at a discussion titled 鈥楤ring those involved in enforced disappearance to justice immediately marking International Week of the Disappeared鈥� organised by rights body Odhikar at the National Press Club in Dhaka city.
According to the data of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforce Disappearance updated till March 4, total 330 victims remain traceless out of 1,752 complaints it has received. So far, the commission has scrutinised 1,000 complaints.
At the Saturday鈥檚 discussion, Safa, daughter of Md Sohel, an alleged victim of enforced disappearance who went missing on December 2, 2013, spoke. Sohel was the president of the Bangshal thana unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
鈥極ne after another Eid passes by but my father never returned. This is my father鈥檚 photograph. Will I live only by holding this photograph? Won鈥檛 I ever hold my father?鈥� Safa, who was two months old when her father disappeared, said in a choked voice.
Anisha Islam Insha, whose father was reportedly picked up by the members of Rapid Action Battalion on June 19, 2019, said that the disappearance of her father sent her brother into a deep trauma, but except Odhikar no other human rights organisation in the country stood by their side.
Ariyan, son of Khalid Hasan Sohel, who was allegedly forced to disappear on November 28, 2013, decried that his father remained traceless till now.聽
鈥榃e demonstrated at many places many times, demanding our father鈥檚 trace. We hoped that now that it is second Bangladesh, we would find the trace of my father,鈥� he said.聽
Former ambassador Maruf Zaman, who was also a victim of enforced disappearance, urged the government to disband the RAB and abolish all secret detention centres except for the Joint Interrogation Cell on the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence headquarters premises for national security reasons.
He also urged the government to ensure financial security of the victim families many whom are living in hardship.聽
Addressing the discussion, International Crimes Tribunal chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said that many were alleging that the trial process was delayed, but the trial must comply with the international standard.
鈥榃e have to work hard, use different technologies and methods to find out a cell. We need time to complete the investigation,鈥� he said, adding that the probe into 10鈥�15 significant incidents of enforced disappearance would be completed in June.
Chaired by Odhikar president Tasneem Siddiqui, the programme was addressed, among others, by acclaimed photographer and rights activist Shahidul Alam, enforced disappearance victim Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem and 抖阴精品 news editor Shahiduzzaman Shahid.
