Police on Sunday arrested over a dozen leaders and activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party from a prayer session organised seeking the return of the victims of enforced disappearance.
Mayer Daak, a platform of the families of the victims of enforced disappearance, organised the prayer session at the Nakhalpara house of its founder Hajera Khatun, also the mother of missing BNP leader Sajedul Islam Sumon.
A team of Tejgaon police raided the house in the capital at about 1:30 pm and foiled the prayer session, witnesses and BNP leaders said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Tejgaon division deputy commissioner Md Shahidullah declined to comment on the purpose of their raid.
Mayer Daak regularly organises programmes in Dhaka with dozens of families, who were waiting for the return of their loved ones picked up or abducted allegedly by the members of law enforcement agencies.
Sajedul’s sister and Mayer Daak co-founder Sanjida Islam Tulee said that her mother was hospitalised and was taken to home a couple of days ago.
Upon her return, they organised the prayer session at their home, where the other victim families were also invited to attend.
Dhaka north city unit BNP convener Aman Ullah Aman, who was attending another prayer session in a local mosque along with his activists, also came to the house to meet ailing Hajera Khatun, the family said.
‘We were in the midst of prayer when we saw police storming into our house and started chasing all the people inside,’ Sanjida said.
She alleged that police soon started beating family members of the victims of enforced disappearances and broke open the door of different rooms.
Sanjida said their group would write to the United Nations’ working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances over the police harassment.
CCTV footage of the house also confirmed the arrest of BNP leaders and activists.
Following the incident, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at an impromptu press conference at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office demanded an immediate release of the party leaders and activists arrested from the house and from different other parts of the country in recent time.
At the press conference, Dhaka north city unit BNP convener Aman said that police foiled several programmes of the unit in recent time.
‘They [police] arrested at least 15 of our activists from a prayer session today. It seems we don’t have the right to hold even a prayer session,’ he said.
He alleged that Tejgaon police station officer-in-charge Apurba Hasan led the attack on the party activists.
The family members alleged that police often visit the houses of the victims of the enforced disappearance in the name of finding out their missing relatives.
According to rights group Odhikar, 603 people were subjected to enforced disappearances in Bangladesh between January 2009 and June 2021 since the ruling Awami League assumed power.
Among them, 153 people are still missing, the bodies of 81 people have been recovered and 369 people have returned alive after several days or months or years of being disappeared.
Odhikar said that a large majority of the victim families have held Rapid Action Battalion and the Detective Branch of police responsible for the crimes.
