DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters have taken to the streets to protest against enforced disappearances, demanding information about the hundreds of people they claim security forces have abducted during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s nearly 15 years in office.
On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies joined families of the missing in protest. Many protesters wore black gags over their mouths as a symbol of their dissent.
“I am not simply afraid… every single day I wake up, I am consumed by terror,” remarked Humam Quader Chowdhury, an official from the BNP, on Wednesday, who had been in security forces custody for seven months.
Speaking to the protesters in the capital city of Dhaka, Chowdhury claimed to have seen a high official deny he was being held in custody while he was detained.
Mariam Bushra, 10, was holding a picture of her father and lawyer Ahmad Bin Quasem, who is missing. She said, “I want my father to come back.
HRW Reports Over 600 Alleged Enforced Disappearances
Since Hasina took office in 2009, security forces have allegedly carried out “over 600 enforced disappearances,” of which about 100 are still unaccounted for, said Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The rest were either eventually freed, appeared in court, or were declared to have “died during an armed exchange with security forces,” HRW reported.
By continuing to downplay the existence of enforced disappearances, Bangladeshi authorities are just prolonging the misery of families, said Julia Bleckner, senior Asia researcher for HRW.
The government, however, refutes allegations of disappearances and extrajudicial killings, asserting that some of those reported missing had tragically drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting to reach Europe.
By the end of January, Bangladesh is scheduled to hold its national elections, but rights organizations and foreign governments have long expressed alarm about efforts made by Prime Minister Hasina’s administration to stifle dissent and suppress critics.
Tens of thousands of opposition activists are allegedly being detained by security forces, who are also suspected of killing hundreds of people in extrajudicial shootings and vanishing hundreds of leaders and followers.
