Proposed disappearance law could shield perpetrators, speakers question BNP’s intent

The government’s proposed law on enforced disappearances could create avenues for perpetrators to escape accountability rather than ensure justice for victims, speakers at a seminar in Dhaka warned on Saturday.

They also raised questions on whether the BNP-led government has sufficient intent to dismantle the system that enabled the practice.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the AB Party at the National Press Club, politicians, academics and rights advocates called for an independent investigation mechanism and prosecution not only of those directly involved in disappearances but also those who ordered them.

AB Party General Secretary Barrister Asaduzzaman Fuad said the proposed legislation contained some new provisions but in many respects resembled the existing legal framework.

He demanded an independent police investigation commission to investigate enforced disappearances and other crimes involving state agencies, arguing that accountability could not be ensured through institutions vulnerable to political or institutional influence.

Fuad also issued a warning directly to the BNP.

“Power is not permanent,” he said, urging the party to learn from the past and consider the consequences of failing to establish effective accountability mechanisms.

‘We do not want to return’

BNP Media Cell Convener Dr Moudud Hossain Alamgir Pavel acknowledged weaknesses in the existing system, saying serious crimes such as enforced disappearance could not be effectively investigated or prosecuted through a weak policing structure.

“We want an end to the culture of enforced disappearance. We do not want to return to that place,” he said.

BNP lawmaker Hummam Quader Chowdhury, however, defended the proposed legislation, saying extensive research had been conducted before it was drafted.

He said an agency accused of carrying out an enforced disappearance would not be permitted to investigate the allegation against itself.

The proposed law had also been drafted to ensure that those who ordered disappearances, rather than only those who physically carried them out, could be brought to justice, he said.

The assurances did little to dispel broader concerns voiced at the seminar over whether legislation alone could dismantle a system of impunity entrenched within state institutions.

FSDS Chairman Fazle Elahi Akbar welcomed the government’s efforts to investigate past disappearances but warned that Bangladesh had a long history of committees that ultimately produced little accountability.

“I am deeply ashamed that people from our defense forces were involved in enforced disappearances and killings that occurred during the previous Hasina regime,” he said.

Akbar blamed a lack of accountability, widespread impunity and corruption for allowing abuses to flourish.

Independent investigations demanded

AB Party Senior Vice Chairman Professor Dr Wahab Minar said the suffering of disappearance victims and their families remained a painful legacy and warned that Bangladesh must never be allowed to return to such practices.

He urged the government to govern in accordance with the aspirations of the mass uprising.

Fuad said enforced disappearances were not confined to a single period of Bangladesh’s history, tracing the problem back decades and referring to the unresolved disappearance of filmmaker and intellectual Zahir Raihan.

“We want an end to the culture of enforced disappearance,” he said. “We do not want to see enforced disappearances in the new Bangladesh.”

Barrister Zubayer Ahmed Bhuiya, himself a victim of enforced disappearance, said the crime extended far beyond the person who vanished.

An enforced disappearance, he said, condemns an entire family to years of fear, uncertainty and psychological trauma.

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