/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/26/2024-12-26t112006978z-wion-white-logo-for-website-2-1.png){kind=logo}
/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/13/2024-12-13t071548098z-wionlogo.webp)
/wion/media/post_attachments/files/2024/08/05/447661-untitled-design-2024-08-05t222421842.png)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
An inquiry commission appointed by the Bangladesh interim government said on Saturday (Dec 14) that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina along with some high-ranking officials of her government were involved in the alleged incidents of enforced disappearances.
The five-member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances submitted an interim report titled "Unfolding Truth" to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
In its report, the commission implicated Hasina's involvement in as many as 3,500 cases of enforced disappearances.
"The commission has found evidence of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's involvement as the instructor in the incidents of enforced disappearances," the press wing of the office of Chief Adviser said in a statement.
It added that the deposed premier's defence adviser, Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre Major General Ziaul Ahsan, senior police officers Monirul Islam and Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid, and several other senior officials were also found to be involved in those incidents.
The report presented evidence against the ousted Bangladesh PM, who fled the country during violent protests by the students in Dhaka.
The report further claimed that many high-ranking officials, including former military and police personnel believed to be involved, fled from the country after the fall of Hasina's Awami League party on August 5.
'Systematic design'
The commission told the interim government that the inquiries uncovered a "systematic design" that enabled incidents of enforced disappearances to occur unnoticed.
According to the statement, retired Supreme Court judge Mainul Islam Chowdhury, the chairman of the commission, told Yunus, "Individuals carrying out enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing (even) lacked knowledge about victims."
Watch | Bangladesh probes enforced disappearances, retired judge to lead security forces inquiry
It added that the police's elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which includes personnel from the army, navy, air force, and regular police, have also collaborated to detain, torture, and hold the victims in secret families. In light of this, the commission advised the abolishment of the RAB and called for either repealing or significantly amending the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009.
According to the rights activist and commission member Sajjad Hossain, 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances have been recorded so far, and 758 of them have been examined.
Moreover, out of these, 200 people, or 27 per cent of the victims, never returned.
Earlier at a press conference, the commission announced that they had found eight secret detention centres in the capital Dhaka and its outskirts.
'Need another year to complete inquiry'
The panel chairman told Yunus that they would share another interim report in March and would require at least another year to complete the scrutiny of all allegations they had received.
"You are doing a really very important job. We are ready to give you all kinds of support that you need," Yunus said, sharing support with the commission.
The report also called for creating a new law criminalising enforced disappearances.
(With inputs from agencies)