Staff Reporter:
The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance has found the involvement of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the enforced disappearances.
The commission members placed an interim report on their findings titled “Unfolding the Truth” to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus at State Guest House Jamuna in the capital on Saturday.
In the report, the commission recommended dissolution of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite force and a specialised unit of the Bangladesh Police, according to a press release issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.
It also recommended starting the trial process over the enforced disappearances.
According to the press release, the commission recorded 1,676 complaints on the enforced disappearances. Of those, 758 were scrutinised. It estimates that the number of the enforced disappearance incidents in the country would cross 3,500.
According to the commission, Hasina was the instructor or mastermind of the crimes. A big number of high rankers of her government were also involved.
Former Defence and Security Adviser to the ex-premier Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former Director General of National Telecommunication Monitoring Center (NTMC) and sacked Maj Gen Ziaul Ahsan, former chief of Special Branch (SB) Monirul Islam and former chief of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Harun Or Rashid were among those officials.
The commission members urged the chief adviser to pay a visit to “Aynaghar”, a secret cell where the victims were confided to.
They told the chief adviser that if he visits the “Aynaghar”, the victims, who fortunately got freed, can get confidence.
Agreeing with their request, Prof Yunus said that he will soon visit the “Aynaghar”.
He thanked the commission members and assured them of necessary supports to advance with their work.
Chairman of the commission and retired Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said, “The accused officers have committed the enforced disappearances in such a way so that it can be difficult to detect. Multiple forces exchanged the victims among them and executed the plans in various ways.”
He said that many victims of the disappearance are still not free from fear; they were tortured so badly that they are still traumatised.
He further said that they will submit another interim report to the chief adviser in March next year. They will need at least a year to place the last report.
Commission members retired Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli, human rights activist Nur Khan, BRAC University teacher Nabila Idris, human rights activist Sajjad Hossain, interim government’s advisers’ council members Adilur Rahman Khan and Sharmeen S Murshid, Principal Secretary to the Chief Adviser Md Siraj Uddin Mia and Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam, among others, were present at the time of placing the report.
