Dhaka, 31 Aug, 2023 (GNP): Thousands of Bangladeshi nationals protested over the roads of the capital city on Wednesday demanding the whereabouts of hundreds of people about whom they said that security forces have carried off during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government of 15 long years.
On the other hand, the government stated that some of the people who reported missing sank in the Mediterranean Sea when making a try to reach Europe and strongly rejected the accusations of disappearances and extrajudicial killings of civilians.
In Bangladesh, the public polls are due to happen by the end of January 2024, but foreign governments and rightists have shown apprehension over Hasina’s government attempts to put an end to hard criticism and crush down political disagreements.
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A Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) member, Humam Quader Chowdhury asserted that he had been abducted by security forces for about seven months and added, “I am not just afraid… every single day I wake up, I am absolutely terrified.”
Moreover, he informed protesters in Dhaka that he had seen a senior government official on television during his detention who completely denied that he was detained.
The BNP’s Opposition supporters and its allies joined hands with the distressed families of missing people to record their protest on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The numerous marchers have worn black gags over their mouths to express solidarity with the victims.
While holding a photograph of her lost father in a march, Mariam Bushra, a ten-year-old daughter of opposition activist and lawyer Ahmad Bin Quasem said, “I want the return of my father.”
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Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch commented that security forces perpetrated, “over 600 enforced disappearances,” since Hasina took control in 2009, and approximately 100 keep missing. The several lost people later on released, presented in court, or reported to have “died during an armed exchange with security forces”, HRW added.
Furthermore, a senior Asia researcher, Julia Bleckner made a statement on Wednesday, “Bangladesh authorities are fooling nobody by continuing to deny the reality of enforced disappearances, and instead are prolonging the suffering of families.”
The security forces have been blamed for holding up thousands of opposition activists, murdering hundreds in extrajudicial encounters, and disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters.
