http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/35945.html Forced disappearances of people, mostly opposition leaders and activists, after allegedly being picked up by law enforcers are on the rise, panicking people and making rights defenders concerned. According to rights organisation Odhikar, the number of victims of forced disappearances was 17 in 2010 while the figure reached 17, including eight in the capital, in the first nine months of 2011 till September 30. In most of the cases, families of the victims accused the law enforcement agencies of killing their relatives in a planned way that they said is an alternative to extrajudicial killing. The families fear that the victims have been killed by the law enforcers and bodies have been concealed. The National Human Rights Commission chairman, Mizanur Rahman, expressed his grave concerns about the increase in such forced disappearances. He told New Age on Thursday that the law enforcers must investigate every incident of disappearances to clear themselves from the accusation by families of the victims. Human rights defenders also expressed their grave concerns about growing incidents of forced disappearances. They demanded that the government should thoroughly investigate each reported incident of disappearance immediately. The Odhikar secretary, Adilur Rahman Khan, demanded that the government should arrange for search and rescue of the disappeared and also take action against the people involved in perpetrating such crimes. 'The government's failure to ensure impartial investigation of each of the incidents will only establish the people's perception that forced disappearance has been adopted as an alternative to extrajudicial killing,' he said. Rights watchdog Ain o Salish Kendra executive director, Sultana Kamal, told New Age, 'These are not stray incidents and it is the responsibility of law enforcers to look into the issue seriously.' The rise of forces disappearances has also concerned international rights groups. The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances has urged the Bangladesh government to take immediate steps to stop forced disappearances of the people allegedly after being picked up by law enforcers. The federation, a platform of human rights organisations of families of the disappeared and advocates working directly with the issue of forced disappearance in the region, made the urge in a letter it sent to the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations on June 14. In the letter, the federation also urged the government to immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The convention, which was unanimously adopted by United Nations General Assembly in 2006 and entered into force on December 23, 2010, provides for, among others, two new rights — the right to truth and the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. 'We believe that this new international human rights instrument is a stepping stone to the existing government's effort to improve governance and democracy where human rights should be at the centre of political policies and programmes,' the letter reads. Enforced disappearance is a convenient tool being used by state security forces to repress people's legitimate exercise of their rights, the letter says. The Rapid Action Battalion director general, Mukleshur Rahman, however, claimed that the battalion was not involved in any abduction and they had rather rescued several people from abductors in a couple of months. Detective Branch deputy commissioner Monirul Islam said that the law enforcers were not involved in any forced disappearance or secret killing. He said that they were investigating every incident of disappearances. 'Some criminals may be involved in such abductions,' he added. In the latest incident of disappearance on September 29, former vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra Union KM Shamim Akhter, 37, was abducted by some unnamed people from near his house at Purana Paltan in the capital, his 60-year-old mother, Johara Akhter, alleged. She said that she had come to know from local people that seven to eight plainclothesmen had abducted Shamim and taken him away in a white microbus in the evening on the day. On September 22, armed plainclothesmen abducted local BNP leader Ataur Rahman Litu and the opposition leader has been missing since then. The family of Litu, Ward 87 unit BNP president, alleged that some armed people in plain clothes in the name of Detective Branch had abducted Litu from Dayaganj crossing. Litu's wife Rashida Akter filed a general diary with the Jatrabari police in this connection. Rashida alleged that RAB or DB men had abducted her husband. She feared that law enforcers might have killed Litu in a planned way. The Rapid Action Battalion, Detective Branch and the local police said that Litu had not been picked up by them. On July 2, armed people abducted Tejgaon unit Chhatra League vice-president Mizanur Rahman and his associate from Tejgaon. Later on July 5, their bodies were found near the Tejgaon bus stand. Mizan's elder brother Tajul Islam told New Age that some quarters using law enforcers might have killed his brother. He said, 'If he is not killed by the lawmen, then why could not they make any headway into the investigation of the killing.' On July 31, Jewel Ullah Sardar, 28, Rajib Ullah Sardar, 23, and Mizanur Hossain were found dead in different places in Gazipur and Munshiganj after they had been abducted allegedly by plainclothesmen from Dayaganj. Jewel's father Salam Ullah Sardar alleged that his son Jewel, nephew Rajib and their friend Mizanur had been abducted by plainclothesmen from near a food shop near the Dayaganj crossing. On July 18, a group of people identifying themselves as lawmen picked up Nuru Islam alias Tablet Babu, 27, from his house at Narinda in the city. Two day after his abduction, local people found the body of Babu in a water body in the area. On July 4, plainclothesmen at gun point took away Sajal Hossain, 18, and Imran Ahmed, 20, from the Rajdhani Super Market area at Tikatuli in day light. Sajal's body was found lying in a playground at Samarsing in Gazipur on July 12 while Imran's body was recovered by the police from near the Judge Miah brick field at Ekuria of Keraniganj the same day. In 2010, Dhaka city ward councillor Chowdhury Alam, also a BNP leader, went missing on June 25. Alam's son Abu Sayeed Chowdhury said that there were enough circumstantial evidences to relate the Rapid Action Battalion to the abduction of his father. 'We have no doubt, considering the events of past few weeks before my father's disappearance, that the battalion abducted him,' he said.
New Age,
Dhaka, 07 October 2011Forced disappearance on increase
FM Masum
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