The unending wait

“I wake up every morning with the hope of his return. I imagine that he, the father of my Raita and Arwa, will suddenly come and say, ‘I was hiding just to give you a surprise!’”
“But the days pass and I wait. He does not return. My husband went missing on 4 December 2013.”
Nasima Akhter, wife of BNP leader Sajedul Islam, was speaking tearfully to Prothom Alo on Thursday at her Shaheenbagh residence.
Sajedul Islam, general secretary of Dhaka ward 38 BNP unit and seven others have been missing since 4 December 2013.
The families of the eight people claimed that the victims were picked up by a vehicle of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-1.
When Nasima was talking to Prothom Alo, Arwa, her five-year-old daughter and mother-in-law were looking at pictures of Sajedul in the family photo album.
Elder daughter Raita said Arwa asks her every day when their father would come home from work.

A total of 19 people reportedly went missing between 28 November and 11 December from the capital Dhaka.

The families of the missing said they formed human chains, held press conferences, informed local and international rights bodies over the disappearance of the victims, went to the home ministry and submitted applications to trace the missing ones over the past two years.

However, police did not take any case or general diary (GD) when the families approached them for filing cases or general diaries (GDs) in this regard with the police stations concerned.

The families claimed that RAB-1 personnel picked up Sajedul and five others from Bashundhara Residential Area on 4 December night.

A total of eight people were reported to be ‘abducted’ that night.

The others include Sajedul’s cousin Zahidul Karim (Tanvir), Mazharul Islam (Rasel) of Paschim Nakhalpara, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan (Masum) of Purba Nakhalpara, Asaduzzaman (Rana) of Mugdapara, Al Amin of Uttar Badda.

In a separate incident, AM Adnan Chowdhury and Kawsar Ahmed were picked up from their residences at Shaheenbagh that night (4 December).

Moreover, Khalid Hasan (Sohel) went missing on 28 November, 2013 from Central Jail gate area, Zahirul Islam (Habibul basher Zahir), Parvez Hossain, M Sohel and M Hossain (Chanchal) on 2 December  from Shahbag area, Nizam Uddin (Munna) and Tariqul Islam (Jhantu) from Dakkhinkhan’s Mollartek on 6 December, Mahbub Hasan and Kazi Farhad on 7 December from Sabujbag area and Selim Reza (Pintu) from Mirpur’s Pallabi area on 11 December.

Most of them were students, some from Jagannath University, some from Tejgaon University College, some from other institutions. They are from simple middle class families. 

The families even demanded the prime minister's intervention to rescue the victims.

RAB additional director general lieutenant colonel Ziaul Ahsan said the families of the disappeared people also made complaints to them.

“Some of them called, but as they could give us no specific information, it was not possible to ascertain whether those who picked them up were from RAB or were someone else.”

He claimed that the law enforcement agency was continuing its effort to find out the disappeared people.

While speaking of the disappearances, the family members kept breaking down into tears.

Apart from demanding return of their beloved ones, the families of the disappeared also demanded exemplary punishment of those responsible for the disappearance.

Asked where these 19 youths went missing, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal claimed, “Most of them are known to me. They are residents of my neighbourhood. I tried many times to find them, but couldn’t do anything.”

The home minister said the mystery behind this must be unveiled. “I will try again. I will ask the officials concerned about the missing people.”

JCD’s airport unit joint secretary Nizam Uddin Munna’s emotion choked father Shamsuddin asked the government to take effective measures to find her son.

“Why does the government not inform us about mu son’s whereabouts? My only demand is that I get my son back.”

Talking to the Prothom Alo, AM Adnan Chowdhury’s father Ruhul Amin Master said, “Two years have elapsed, no one tell us where are our children. Our children have isappeared whereas the government has not been able to tell us anything about their whereabouts till date. Is it a lawless country?”

The angry father continued, “Our complaint is now against the government, against the home ministry.”

He said, “The government had done its duty by merely staying ‘we don’t know’ and ‘we didn’t pick them up’.”

Ain O Salish Kendra director Noor Khan told Prothom Alo that people have going missing over the last few years. “But there is no visible action of the government to find them. There is negligence. This injustice cannot go on.”

He said it is the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies to find missing people.

“They will have to be held accountable if they don’t discharge their duties. The law enforcers will have to investigate properly to find the victims even if the victims are picked up by people claiming to be members of law enforcement agencies.”

Dhaka city ward 79 unit president of the JCD Khalid Hasan Sohel’s wife Shammi Sultana said, “My family can no longer survive. Who will pay for my children’s education? None is here to look after us.”

The wife of missing opposition worker asked the government to find her husband. “I want my husband back. Why can’t the government find my husband in two years?”

She alleged her husband was picked by a group of people who claimed to be men of the Detective Branch of police.

Senior jurist Shahdeen Malik said the trial for every disappearance must be held. “If it is not held in this country, we will seek to justice for the disappearance and killing even by appearing in the international court. It cannot go this way in this country that people will be picked up and all will cry.”

In assistance with some human rights organisations, family members of the disappeared people filed an appeal to the Committee on Enforced Disappearance of the United Nations, seeking justice last year.

Sajedul Islam’s sister Sanjida Islam was invited to attend a session of the working group of the committee on 14 September last year where she presented her statements about the disappeared people, including his brother.

Sanjida said, “We have sought justice from the UN. They said they will communicate with the government, but they are yet to make any contacts with the government.”

The home ministry could not say anything on the matter.