National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Nahid Islam has called on the government to locate Miraj Sheikh, who has been missing from Mongla since April, and ensure independent, impartial and effective investigations into all allegations of enforced disappearance.
Nahid, the NCP convener and opposition chief whip, also raised serious concerns over the government's proposed Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Bill and Human Rights Commission Bill, warning that the legislation could leave room for impunity instead of ensuring accountability for one of the gravest human rights violations.
His remarks came in a statement issued on Saturday ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed on August 30.
Nahid demanded that Miraj, along with all those who were subjected to enforced disappearance during the Awami League government, be located and the truth about their fate disclosed to their families.
“Miraj Sheikh, a victim of alleged enforced disappearance in Mongla, as well as all those who were subjected to enforced disappearance during the Awami League era, must be located. The truth about their fate must be disclosed to their families,” he said.
He also demanded speedy justice in every case of enforced disappearance and clear provisions in the proposed law guaranteeing independent, impartial and effective investigations into such allegations.
Nahid said allegations surrounding Miraj's disappearance were particularly concerning because they had emerged after the political change brought about by the 2024 uprising.
“Unfortunately, even in post-revolution Bangladesh, many families continue to wait for their loved ones to return. Many victims of enforced disappearance remain unaccounted for. The allegation of the enforced disappearance of Miraj Sheikh in Mongla also deeply concerns us,” he said.
Miraj, a fisherman from Mongla in Bagerhat, has been missing since April 10. His family and rights groups have alleged that he was last seen in Coast Guard custody, an allegation the force has denied.
Nahid said serious questions had emerged over the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Bill and the Human Rights Commission Bill introduced in parliament by the current government.
Despite previously taking a position against enforced disappearances, he said, the government had proposed legislation that could fail to establish sufficient safeguards against the practice.
“There are concerns that, instead of ensuring effective prevention and accountability for serious crimes such as enforced disappearance, these initiatives could leave room for impunity,” he said.
Nahid said Bangladesh would not be able to permanently eliminate the culture of enforced disappearance unless every allegation was subjected to an independent and impartial investigation.
He demanded that the proposed anti-enforced disappearance law contain explicit provisions guaranteeing independent, impartial and effective investigations.
“Most importantly, it must be ensured that a culture of state-sponsored enforced disappearances never returns to Bangladesh,” he said.
Nahid said enforced disappearance had been established as an instrument of state repression during Sheikh Hasina's decade and a half in power.
Countless citizens belonging to opposition parties or holding dissenting political views became victims of what he described as state-sponsored atrocities, he said.
Many of those people remain missing, while their families have spent years waiting for their return, he added.
Nahid also referred to “Aynaghar,” the name used for secret detention facilities where victims of enforced disappearance have alleged they were held and tortured.
“The inhuman and brutal torture inflicted on countless of our brothers who were detained in the dark cells known as ‘Aynaghar’ is a disgrace to humanity,” he said.
Nahid linked the struggle of families of disappeared people to the political movement that culminated in the July-August 2024 uprising.
He said the anguish of families seeking the return of their disappeared relatives, their years of waiting and their demands for justice formed part of the backdrop against which the student-led mass uprising took place.
“It was against the backdrop of families desperately seeking the return of their disappeared loved ones, their anguish and the pain of years of waiting that we achieved a new Bangladesh through the historic and bloody student-people's revolution,” he said.
Despite that political change, Nahid said many families were still waiting for information about relatives who had disappeared.
He called for all those who remain missing to be traced, the truth about their fate disclosed to their families and those responsible brought to justice without delay.
Nahid began his statement by expressing sympathy with victims of enforced disappearance and their families in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world.
“On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, I extend my deepest sympathy to all victims of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh and across the world, as well as to their families,” he said.
He said the state now had an obligation to answer the families who had spent years searching for their missing relatives.
“The cries of every family whose loved one has been subjected to enforced disappearance must be answered,” Nahid said.
“Through truth, justice and accountability, we must build a humane, democratic and new Bangladesh.”
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