Commission finds involvement of ex-PM Hasina in enforced disappearance in interim report

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance submitted its first interim report to Chief Adviser to the interim government Professor Muhammad Yunus.

The five-member commission led by retired justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury handed over the report titled “Unfolding The Truth” to the Chief Adviser at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka.

The commission chairman said they had found the prima facie involvement of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser, Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique in the enforced disappearances.

It also found the involvement of former director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre, and sacked Major General Ziaul Ahsan, senior police officers Monirul Islam and Md. Harun-Or-Rashid, with several incidents of enforced disappearance.

The commission said they already recorded a total of 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances, while 758 complaints have already been scrutinised. It estimates the number of enforced disappearances in the country would cross 3,500.

The commission recommended disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

While submitting the report, the commission chairman said they had found a "systematic design" so that the incidence of enforced disappearances remains undetected.

The commission also found that forces exchanged the victims and operations were deliberately segmented, he said.

Individuals carrying out enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing lacked knowledge about victims, he said.

The commission chairman said that they would deliver another interim report in March and would require at least another year to complete the scrutiny of all allegations they had received.

Chief Adviser Prof Yunus thanked the commission for submitting the interim report and promised all possible support in accomplishing the job. 

"You are doing a really very important job. We are ready to give you all kinds of support that you need," he added.

The Chief Adviser said he would visit some of the Aynaghar, or secret detention centres and joint interrogation cells detected by the commission to get a firsthand knowledge about the sufferings of the victims. 

Commission members Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli, human rights activist Nur Khan, BRAC University teacher Nabila Idris, and human rights activist Sajjad Hossain, interim government’s advisers’ council members Adilur Rahman Khan and Sharmeen S Murshid, Principal Secretary to Chief Adviser Md Siraj Uddin Mia and Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam were present at the meeting, among others.