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Colonel Md Shafiqul Islam, Staff Colonel of the Military Operations Directorate speaks at a press briefing held at Dhaka Cantonment on Thursday. | UNB photo

The Bangladesh Army Headquarters on Thursday said that it would take legal action against officers whose involvement in enforced disappearance would be found in the ongoing investigation.

Colonel Md Shafiqul Islam, colonel staff at the Army Headquarters’ Military Operations Directorate, made the remarks while responding to a question at a press conference at the Officers Mess in the Dhaka Cantonment.


The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance’s second interim report found that most members of the security forces involved in enforced disappearance had remained in their positions while many of them were promoted.

‘Some officers of the Bangladesh Army were allegedly involved in enforced disappearance when they were on deputation. An investigation is underway in this regard. If their involvement in enforced disappearance is found in the investigation, the Bangladesh Army will take necessary legal action against them,’ said Shafiqul.

He said that the army was supporting the investigation and the support would continue in the coming days.

Shafiqul said that different officers were in deputation in different organisations but those organisations were not controlled by the Bangladesh Army.

Asked about the allegations of the commission members that surviving victims and victims’ families were put under surveillance by the members of the forces involved in incidents of enforced disappearance during the ousted Awami League regime, Shafiqul said that they did not have any information about such allegations.

‘If victim families inform us, we will extend help to them,’ Colonel Shafiqul added.

The commission claimed that it had so far found proof and documents of 253 incidents of enforced disappearance, out of the 1,850 allegations they had received.

The incidents of these enforced disappearances occurred during the Awami League regime between January 6, 2009 and August 5, 2024, according to the commission.

Addressing the briefing, Colonel Shafiqul said that the Bangladesh Army would take stern action against mob violence, loss of people’s lives and properties, and activities that would create public suffering in the future.

He said that they had arrested 562 people, including listed and identified crime suspects, members of teenage gangs and robbers and other crime suspects in the past two weeks, raising the total number of arrestees to 15,646 so far during the interim government’s tenure.

The army officer said that the Bangladesh Army had recovered 26 illegal arms and 100 rounds of bullets in the past two weeks. As a result, the army has recovered 9,692 arms and 2,86,854 rounds of bullets during the government’s tenure.

Responding to a question about the Army’s preparations for maintaining law and order during the next general election, he said that they did not receive any directives.

‘We have our own preparation for the election,’ he said.