What happened to them?: People holding portraits of forcibly ‘disappeared’ relatives during the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances in Dhaka. — AFP
INDIGENOUS people’s rights activist Michael Chakma says he was woken up by his captors earlier this month in the dark, tiny cell where he was being held and thrown into a car, handcuffed and blindfolded.
“I thought they would kill me,” he said. Instead, he was freed.
It was five years, Chakma recalled, since he was abducted by armed men outside a bank near the capital Dhaka.
He was questioned about his opposition to then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and beaten for weeks, he said, but then left alone in one of what he said were “hundreds” of cells with no sunlight at an unknown detention facility.
Hasina had ruled the South Asian nation of 200 million people for the past 15 years, marked by arrests of opposition leaders, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent.
She resigned this month in the face of deadly student-led protests that killed hundreds.
Investigations into how hundreds of people were “disappeared”, and some executed, during her tenure are a priority for the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.Human Rights Watch said in a 2021 report that according to Bangladeshi human rights groups, nearly 600 people have been forcibly “disappeared” by security forces since 2009.
It verified 86 enforced disappearances cases in which the fate of the victims remains unknown.
Others were freed, shown as arrested or found dead, it said.
The rights group and activists say the victims were held in detention centres across the country and any involvement of the army, paramilitary or police could pose a challenge to the interim government’s investigations.
The government has formed a five-member commission, headed by a former high court judge, to probe the disappearances.
“There are concerns that perpetrators might try and cover up their crimes,” said Asia Deputy Director for Human Rights Watch Meenakshi Ganguly.
“As a first step, the security forces should release all those that are disappeared, or if they were killed in custody, provide answers to the families.”
Chakma was freed on Aug 7 in teak gardens near Chittagong district in southeastern Bangladesh, around 250km from Dhaka.
He said he did not know then that Hasina had been ousted from office and fled to neighbouring India less than two days earlier.
Sitting in a small room with a table and a few plastic chairs in an apartment in Dhaka, Chakma, a short, stocky man, controlled his tears as he shared his ordeal.
“It was difficult to breathe. Initially, they told me that they would release me soon, but as months and years passed, I gave up hope of getting out. Each day felt like 100 days there,” he said.
At least two other people were freed after what they said were years of secret detention on the same day as Chakma, but few details have emerged on who held them and where.
The interim government said the commission will “investigate enforced disappearances that occurred” since Jan 1, 2010, “allegedly involving members of the police” and arms of the paramilitary, intelligence and military.
Reuters spoke to 15 people, including victims of such detentions, families of some who are still missing, human rights advocates, government officials and observers, about the challenge to seek justice.
One was Shafiqul Islam Kajol, a photojournalist in Dhaka who says he was kidnapped by a group of people at gunpoint near Dhaka University in March 2020.
“They beat me a lot there,” he said. Between threats of killing him, his captors asked him about what he knew about Hasina.
After 53 days in captivity, Shafiqul says he was left near a border town and promptly arrested by Bangladesh’s border police.
He was released in December 2020 after the courts acquitted him of trespassing charges.
Shafiqul went to London on a visit last year and applied for asylum, which is still under review.
“I want to return to my country if I get security. I want to file a case against all those who disappeared me, including Sheikh Hasina,” he said.
Chakma also said he was willing to depose before the commission but worried about his safety.
“There were many people involved in these crimes, and they remain strong,” he said.
“These people have created a system that is beyond all accountability, so I am not sure how much this government can change them.” — Reuters
