Disappearances in question-Ward Commissioner Chowdhury Alam among 22
vanished this year
"Disappearance is another phase of extrajudicial killing and
continuation of the crossfire," said Odhikar President Prof CR Abrar
Around 10:00am on July 22, 2008. Tusher Islam Titu, 25, was buying
bangles for his wife at Dhukuria Bera Bazar in Sirajganj. Suddenly, he
heard an unknown voice from behind asking him his name. Shaken, Titu
turned back to find he was surrounded by four well-built men.(The
Daily Star )
Before he could utter a word, the men started punching him
indiscriminately. Within minutes the four, now brandishing automatic
pistols and identity cards, announced to the curious crowd that they
were members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arresting a criminal.
As hundreds in the crowded bazaar looked on, the "Rab" crime busters
bundled Titu into a Nosimon, a human hauler, and asked the local
operator to drive on.
Since that morning Titu disappeared without leaving a trace. His
family looked for him at different Rab offices and police stations
only to learn that the law enforcers know nothing about the arrest at
Dhukuria Bera Bazar.
The Rab spokespersons never admitted to have arrested anyone in that
area that day.
Fifteen days after Titu was picked up in Sirajganj, a young man turned
up at Titu's house in Rampura in the capital. Family sources say the
youth was too scared to reveal his name. The family quoted him as
saying that he had just been released from the Rab-1 custody in Uttara
where he met Titu.
Titu gave him the address and begged him to inform the family about
his whereabouts, the youth added.
"We immediately went there to look for Titu but were told that there
was no-one of that name," said a family member asking not to be named.
There was, however, enough reason to have Titu arrested and put him on
trial under the country's legal system as he was accused of at least
six criminal offences including a murder and of possessing illegal
firearms.
Khilgaon police identified him as "western" Titu, a listed criminal of
the capital. Fearing arrest by Rab, Titu left Dhaka and tried in vain
to settle in Dhukhuria Satlathi, his native village.
Similar disappearances throughout the country allegedly with the elite
force's involvement have nonetheless continued. Rights organisation
Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) puts the number at 22 in the eight months
since January this year on the basis of newspaper reports. ASK
officials say the actual number would "definitely be higher".
"Many even don't know when their loved ones are being picked up as the
law enforcers pick them up from the streets. Many are too scared to
report that the law enforcers are behind the disappearance of their
family members," says an ASK high official.
Dhaka City Corporation ward councillor and BNP leader Chowdhury Alam
disappeared on June 25. Only five days before his disappearance
plainclothes Rab men followed him on motorcycles and tried to drag him
out of his vehicle at one point.
According to a general diary (GD) recorded by Gulshan police
Sub-inspector Mohammad Ali, a patrol team rushed to Road-70 and found
Chowdhury Alam and a crowd of more than 200 people who detained two
men on a motorbike around 7:30pm on June 20.
In his official statement SI Ali said when the crowd identified one of
the two as "one of several people who tried to abduct Chowdhury Alam,
I demanded his identity."
The man produced his ID card which said the person was ASI Md Billal
Hossain (ID No 314772 and Personnel No 4016801) of the Rab
headquarters, says the GD.
The crowd immediately melted into darkness as the police officer
showed them the ID card of the Rab man.
Five days after that incident Chowdhury Alam was kidnapped by unknown
assailants on a yellow cab and his whereabouts are still unknown.
Alam's son Abu Sayeed Chowdhury said there is enough circumstantial
evidence to relate Rab with the abduction of his father. "We have no
doubt, considering the events of past few weeks before my father's
disappearance, that Rab has abducted him," Chowdhury said.
Nazma Begum, a resident of Kapasia in Gazipur, filed a writ with the
High Court seeking a directive to produce her husband Salim Miah
before the court. According to the petition, her husband Salim
disappeared allegedly after Rab arrested him in Kapasia on February 19
this year.
"The same action is continuing. State terrorism is carried on in
different ways. Disappearance is just the extension of crossfire, a
new form of state terrorism," observes rights activist and ASK
Executive Director Sultana Kamal.
"Disappearance is another phase of extrajudicial killing and
continuation of the crossfire," said Odhikar President Prof CR Abrar
of Dhaka University, adding, "This is a matter of grave concern that
this phenomenon is occurring."
Rab Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Mohammad Sohail termed the
allegations "absolutely baseless and motivated".
"A vested quarter is trying to tarnish the image of the
law-enforcement agency by spreading these allegations. This
[disappearance] might have resulted from internal feud among criminal
gangs."
Continuous extrajudicial killings by law enforcers appear to have a
serious effect on freedom of expression as many of the eminent
intellectuals, lawyers, rights activists, journalists, bureaucrats,
media academicians and retired police chiefs refused to comment about
it.
Rab is so tight-lipped that none other than its legal and media wing
director could be reached for comments regarding extrajudicial
killing, which insiders think is "too sensitive".
Despite repeated attempts an appointment with the Rab director general
on the issue could not be arranged.
Disappearance is nothing new in the state's effort to control crime or
criminal activities. Wherever extrajudicial killing continued for a
longer time, the countries experienced cases of disappearance.
Extrajudicial killing is nothing new in Bangladesh and began soon
after independence with the formation of Rakkhi Bahini in 1972. The
Operation Clean Heart was another phase of extrajudicial killing in
the country.
"It occurred during the tenure of every government in the past," said
advocate Adilur Rahman Khan.
The phenomenon of extrajudicial killing can also be traced at times
around the world in the name of uprooting terrorism or extremism,
mostly during military regimes. Disappearance was an excellent
discovery to carry out the killings across the globe.
During 1970s and 1980s disappearance was a common phenomenon in the
Latin American countries including Argentina, Chile, El-Salvador and
Nicaragua.
In 1996 a court found Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte responsible
for the death or disappearance of 3,197 people between September 1973
and March 1990 using a secret police force he formed under the name
National Intelligence Directorate (DINA).
Ninth prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged on
April 4, 1979 on charges of authorising the murder of a political
opponent in March 1974 using a special police force.
Bearing scars of disappearance thousands of people endure inhuman pain
for their near and dear ones every moment around the globe and many of
them still await their return.
Titu's nine-year-old son Sazzad still does not understand what has
happened to his father and sleeps with one of his photographs kept
under his pillow.
"Where did you go? Why did you leave me? I can't keep waiting
anymore," Sazzad speaks to the photograph of his father every night as
his voice gets fainter in sleep.
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/Chowdhury%20Alam%20and%20Tusher%20Islam%20Titu
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