Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh
Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh are cases in which the Government of Bangladesh directly or indirectly kidnaps people and holds them incommunicado. According to a Dhaka-based human rights group Odhikar, at least 402 people have become victim of enforced disappearance from 2009 to 2017 under the current Awami League administration. These incidents along with extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh has been criticized by The United Nations and human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a special paramilitary unit in Bangladesh, is alleged to be behind most of these disappearances even  though RAB claimed these allegations to be false. The current Awami League government denies involvement in these forced disappearances even when victims later surface in custody. According to the report of a domestic human rights organization, 82 people were forcefully disappeared from January to September in 2014. The activists and leaders of opposition parties constitute the majority of the victims. After the disappearances, at least 39 of the victims were found dead while others remained missing. Before the controversial national election of 2014, at least 20 opposition men were picked up by the security forces. At least 89 people have  been victims of enforced disappearances in 2016. In 2016, the families of the victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh founded a platform Mayer Daak to press their demand to know the whereabouts of their loved ones who disappeared under mysterious situation. Background. It first occurred after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's regime between 1972 and 1975. Many members of Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, army officers and other opposition party members were picked up by Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, an elite para-military force formed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It has continued since then and through the  formation of Rapid Action Battalion. Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Since then, during her regime, around 402 people have been forcefully disappeared by the state security forces. After the Awami League party assumed power in the country through election in 2009, law and order situation began to deteriorate with opposition men being attacked by the ruling party men that left several opposition men killed and many others injured. Armed conflicts and violence erupted in the university campuses throughout the country. Political activities of the opposition parties were often attacked. From 2010, picking up of opposition leaders  and activists by the state security forces began to surge in the country. Pre-election period of 2013. Throughout most of 2013, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its alliance observed nationwide general strikes and blockades in demand of a non-partisan interim government or a caretaker government to hold the next general election of 2014. The E.U., the U.S. and the Commonwealth announced that they would not send observers since they were concerned about the credibility of the election. Before the controversial national election of 2014, 20 opposition men were picked up by security forces. , they remained missing. From 2014  to July 2019, 344 people were victims of forced disappearance in Bangladesh. 40 of them were found dead, 66 were found under arrest in government custody and 203 still remain missing according to Ain o Salish Kendra. Those who have reappeared remained silent about the period they were missing. Notable cases. M Ilias Ali. On 17 April 2012, Ilias Ali, another prominent leader of the main opposition party BNP, went missing after last being seen in Dhaka at midnight with his driver. His private car was found abandoned near his Dhaka home. In the following days, five of his party  men died and many were injured as they observed strikes and demonstration programs in protest of the disappearance. The incident got much media coverage. Aminul Islam. Aminul Islam, a Bangladeshi trade unionist, was a member of Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation and an organizer for the Bangladesh Center of Worker Solidarity. On 5 April 2012, Islam's dead body was found near Dhaka after being disappeared earlier. The body bore marks of torture. His disappearance and murder sparked much international criticism. Amaan Azmi, Mir Ahmad and Hummam Chowdhury. In August 2016, sons of three opposition leaders were picked up by  Bangladesh security forces and were taken to unknown places. The victims were a former brigadier-general of the Bangladesh Army Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, son of Ghulam Azam; Hummam Quader Chowdhury, son of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury; and Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem Ali. Amaan Azmi was forcedly picked up from his residence in front of his family members. In all three cases, there were multiple witnesses, but the state police denied their involvements in the abductions. Later, the United Nations expressed concern over the abductions of three men, and urged the Sheikh Hasina's government to check the  increasing number of cases of forced disappearances in the country. Hummam Quader Chowdhury returned home in March 2017 and reported that he could not "remember" who detained him. As of present, there is no news of the whereabouts two other men, Amaan Azmi and Mir Ahmad. Sukharanjan Bali. A prosecution witness who was abducted allegedly by plainclothed police on 5 November 2012 from the gate of Supreme Court after he had decided to testify in favour of an accused war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee, who at the time was being tried before the International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh. He was later  traced to Kolkata's Dumdum prison. Law enforcement. On 27 November 2013, former BNP lawmaker Saiful Islam Hiru and BNP leader Humayun Kabir Parvez were abducted while going to Comilla from Laksham. Convicted murderer of Narayanganj Seven Murder, former RAB-11 official Lt Col (sacked) Tareque Sayeed is the number one accused in the case. RAB-11 is accused of burning 2 cars and killing Iqbal Mahmud Jewel in front of BNP leader Sahab Uddin Sabu in Lakshmipur on 23 December 2013. RAB-11 is also accused of throwing down Jamaat leader Foyez Ahmed from the roof of a 2 storied building. RAB  -11 is also accused of abducting businessman Tajul Islam in a Hi-ace microbus on 17 February 2013. 13 days after abduction, Tajul's dead body was found from Meghna river. RAB-11 and Tareque Sayeed is accused in the case of abduction of businessman Ismail Hossain who has been missing since 7 February 2014. Related issues. In April 2014, bodies of seven men were discovered from the Shitalakkhya river. They were strangled, blindfolded and thrown into the river, four days after they were kidnapped few kilometres from Narayanganj district court by RAB men who are accused to do it as  contract killing. In this case, on 16 January 2016 ex-AL men, ex-RAB officials among 26 were handed death penalty as the charges of abduction, murder, concealing the bodies, conspiracy and destroying evidences were proved beyond any doubt. On 12 December 2016 RAB claimed arrest of a man from Dhaka who took Tk 50 lakh, posing as a source of law enforcers, from a family, in assurance of tracing a missing member of the family. Official response. On 23 November 2017 in parliament, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina claimed that people also disappeared in other countries. Elite  paramilitary force, RAB's Director of Media and Legal Wing, Mufti Mahmud Khan told Al Jazeera about the involvement of RAB in these forced disappearance that these were false allegations and that "RAB is there to curb crimes and it is just doing its job." Law Minister Anisul Huq alleged that the disappearance claims were part of a plot by opposition parties to discredit the government. Sajeeb Wazed, son of Sheikh Hasina, wrote in an article that the Bangladesh police had not uncovered any evidence suggestive of the government's involvement behind any reported disappearance. Criticism. The incidents of enforced  disappearances were condemned by both domestic and international human rights organizations. The main opposition party BNP has held the government responsible for conducting these forced disappearances, and demanded an UN-sponsored investigation into such cases. The British parliament frequently expressed concerns over the forced disappearances of political opponents in Bangladesh. During her visit to Bangladesh in 2012, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern over the disappearance of Ilyas Ali and Aminul Islam. Despite the demands for the government initiatives to probe such disappearances, investigations into such cases were absent. In July 2017, Human Rights Watch published an  82-page report accusing the Bangladesh government of secret detention, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of political opposition members. It called for a halt in such human rights violations. The report also contained gruesome accounts of forcefully picking up and subsequent disappearances of political opposition members at the hands of law enforcement authorities. During May 2018, the United Nations' High Commissioner of Human Rights and 56 other organizations expressed their concerns about Bangladesh's enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings in Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations.