Families of dozens of disappearance victims and opposition political leaders on Saturday held a human chain in front of the National Press Club, seeking justice for enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other forms of intimidation and rights abuse after the police foiled their programme in the capital’s Shahbagh.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police deployed a large contingent of personnel with riot gears ahead of the rally scheduled at 11:00am in front of the National Museum and cleared the victim families forcibly.
A force led by Ramna police senior assistant commissioner Md Salman Farsi along with plainclothes people cleared the families.
When asked, Shahbagh police inspector (operations) Arshad Hossain said that they cleared the Maayer Daak organisers from the National Museum area, considering the ‘threat.’
Maayer Daak coordinator Sanjida Islam Tulee said that they were forced to leave the Shahbagh area when they were trying to hold the human chain on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day observed on December 10 every year.
Later, the Maayer Daak organisers marched towards the National Press Club and chanted slogan ‘Give us back our rights’.
Many of the victims’ family members fell sick with one of them Hasina Begum was hospitalised later.
Hasina, mother of Tariqul Islam Jhantu who disappeared when he was joint secretary of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s student wing at Tejgaon College 10 years ago, asked why the government is so afraid of the victims’ families.
‘Why is the government so scared of a helpless woman?’ Hasina told reporters as she marched. ‘We simply want our children back, but the government does not want to reveal its past deeds before the next elections,’ she added.
In the human chain, mothers, sisters, spouses, fathers, brothers and children of the victims of enforced disappearance, holding banners, placards and photos of their dear ones who cannot be traced, narrated how they have been passing days in agony since their loved ones were picked up by the members of the law enforcement agencies.
Many of them pointed out that the incidents of enforced disappearances heightened particularly during the election years and intense opposition movements with most of them reported since the ruling Awami League came to power in 2009.
Australia-based Capital Punishment Justice Project documented 675 cases of short- and long-term disappearances between January 2009 and September 2023 since the current Awami League government assumed power with a commitment of establishing the rule of law.
Rehena Banu Munni, sister of Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal leader Selim Reza Pintu who disappeared in December 2013 in Dhaka, said that she has been struggling for justice for a decade since her brother was taken away by the people from ‘administration’, but her efforts did not yield any result till now.
‘Prime minister, you are mother of humanity, please find out my brother,’ she cried.
Addressing the human chain, BNP standing committee member Selima Rahman said that the country does not want to see anymore ‘secret killings’ or extrajudicial killings.
Nagarik Oikya president Mahmudur Rahman Manna said that the government is heading towards another staged election. ‘No country in the world has seen such kind of elections,’ he added.
Saiful Huq, general secretary of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, denounced the police for foiling the peaceful programme of Maayer Daak in Shahbagh.
He said that the world is currently watching a crisis in Gaza, but there is another humanitarian crisis going on in Bangladesh.
‘Home minister [Asaduzzaman Khan] was saying no arrests are being made without warrants, but we see that brothers or fathers are getting arrested instead of the opposition leaders,’ he said, referring to the recent arrest of the brothers or fathers of BNP leaders and activists.
He called on the chief justice for releasing all the 20,000 political prisoners held over the recent months in the ongoing crackdown. He feared that the current government is pushing the country towards a civil war.
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal senior vice president Tania Rob said that the people should stand united to demand justice, while Ganosamhati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki said that the government is gambling with the country.
Gono Odhikar Parishad faction president Nurul Haque Nur alleged that New Delhi is interfering with the international politics and with Delhi’s backup, the Awami League government is heading towards another ‘staged election.’
