Dhaka: A commission of inquiry set up by Bangladesh’s interim government said it had found evidence of involvement in the alleged disappearance of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior military and police officials from her regime. The statement came after the five-member committee submitted its interim report titled “Revealing the Truth” to chief adviser Muhammad Yunus on Saturday. The commission set up to investigate missing persons estimates the number of such cases at more than 3,500.
Several police officers were found to be involved
“The committee found evidence that persons disappeared on the orders of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” the press wing of the Chief Adviser’s Office said in a statement, adding that the ousted Prime Minister’s Defense Adviser Major General (has been Retired) former director of the National Telecommunications Monitoring Center Tariq Ahmed Siddiqui and dismissed Major General Ziaul Ahsan and senior police officer Monirul Islam Monirul Islam and Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid, along with several other senior police officers, were also involved in the incidents. Discover engagement. All these ex-military and police officers are absconding. They are believed to have fled the country after a student-led rebellion ousted Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5.
“People from the army, navy, air force and police are involved”
The statement said committee chairman Mainu Islam Chaudhry, a retired Supreme Court judge, told Yunus that he had learned something important during the course of the investigation. “Those who went missing or were killed also did not know who the victims were,” Chaudhry said. The police’s elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and other law enforcement agencies worked closely to ensure the safety of the victims, the report said. . Addressing incidents of forced transport, torture and detention of persons. The RAB consists of personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police.
BangladeshRAP
758 cases investigated
The committee also proposed the repeal of RAB and the repeal or overhaul of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009. Human rights activist and committee member Sajjad Hussain said they had lodged 1,676 complaints about missing persons due to such incidents and had investigated 758 of them. Of these, 200, or 27% of the victims, never returned, and of those who did, the majority were recorded as being arrested. Besides the chairman, the committee also includes Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli, human rights activist Noor Khan, BRAC University private teacher Nabila Idris and human rights activist Sajjad Hussain.
“Secret detention center discovered”
Earlier, the committee announced at a press conference that eight clandestine detention centers had been discovered in Dhaka and its suburbs. The committee chairman told Yunus he would submit another interim report in March. It will take at least another year for them to complete their investigation into all the allegations. “You are indeed doing very important work,” Yunus said. We are always ready to assist you in any way.
Muhammad Yunus
Yunus to inspect secret detention centers
Interviews with alleged missing victims were broadcast on television channels and social media. The victims include opposition activists and former army officers active in opposition to Hasina’s rule. Upon receiving the report, Yunus said he would visit some joint interrogation rooms and secret detention centers because he wanted to hear directly from them the suffering of the victims. The report calls for new laws to criminalize enforced disappearance. (language)
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