Sheikh Hasina
Dhaka: An inquiry commission set up by Bangladesh’s interim government has said it has found evidence of involvement of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and top military and police officials of her regime in alleged disappearances. This five-member commission submitted its interim report titled ‘Revealing the Truth’ to Chief Advisor Mohammad Yunus on Saturday, after which this statement was issued. The commission set up to investigate incidents of missing persons has estimated that the number of such cases is more than 3,500.
Many officers were found involved
“The commission has found evidence that people were disappeared on the instructions of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” the press wing of the Office of the Chief Adviser said in a statement, adding that the ousted prime minister’s defense adviser, Major General (retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddiqui, former Director General of National Telecom Surveillance Center and dismissed Major General Ziaul Ahsan, senior police officers Monirul Islam and Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid and several other senior officers were also involved in these incidents. Found involved in. All these former army and police officers are absconding. They are believed to have fled the country after the student-led rebellion ousted Hasina’s Awami League government from power on August 5.
‘People from Army, Navy, Air Force and Police involved’
According to the statement, commission chairman and retired Supreme Court judge Mainul Islam Choudhary told Yunus that he came to know about important things during the investigation. “Those who disappeared or murdered people were also not aware of the victims,” Chaudhary said. The report said the police’s elite anti-crime ‘Rapid Action Battalion’ (RAB) and other law enforcement The agencies worked closely with each other to carry out incidents of forced transportation, torture, and detention of people. RAB consists of people from Army, Navy, Air Force and Police.
Bangladesh R.A.P
758 cases investigated
The Commission also proposed abolishing the RAB along with repealing or comprehensively amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009. Human rights activist and commission member Sajjad Hussain said they have filed 1,676 complaints of missing people due to such incidents and have investigated 758 of them so far. Of these, 200 people or 27 percent of the victims never returned and of those who returned, most of them are shown in the records as arrested persons. Apart from the chairman, the commission also includes Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli, human rights activist Noor Khan, private BRAC University teacher Nabila Idris and human rights activist Sajjad Hussain.
‘Secret detention center found’
Earlier, the commission had announced at a press conference that it had found eight secret detention centers in Dhaka and its outskirts. The commission chairman told Yunus that he would submit another interim report in March. It will take at least another year for them to complete the investigation into all the allegations. “You are really doing very important work,” Yunus said. We are ready to provide you all kinds of assistance.
Muhammad Yunus
Yunus will visit secret detention centers
Interviews with victims who were allegedly disappeared were broadcast on TV channels and social media. These victims include opposition activists and former military officers who actively opposed Hasina’s rule. While receiving the report, Yunus said that he would visit some joint interrogation rooms and secret detention centers as he wanted to get information about the suffering of the victims directly from them. The report calls for a new law to criminalize incidents of enforced disappearances. (Language)
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