Enforced disappearance commission report: Bodies on railway tracks, in rivers
Lips were sewed up without anaesthesia
Some were given electric shocks, some were beaten up
The interim government on 27 August this year formed a commission to investigate the incidents of enforced disappearance that took place from 6 January 2009 to 5 August 2024.
This commission received 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearance. They have studied 758 of these. Of the 758 incidents they have looked into, 73 per cent of the victims have returned. The remaining 27 per cent (at least 204 persons) remain missing.
In its report, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances states that many of the victims of enforced disappearance who have returned, had been shown arrested under various laws including the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Arms Act, the Explosives Act, the Special Powers Act, the Digital Security Act and others.
The report states that the commission defines enforced disappearance based on four factors. These are, violation of the victim's independence, direct or indirect complicity of the state forces or authorities in the incident, no informing the family of the victim's whereabouts, and not providing the victim with legal support.
The report discusses the incidents of enforced disappearance in five parts -- abduction, detention, torture, killing and release. It also says that RAB, police, DB, CTTC, DGFI and NSI were involved in the incidents of enforced disappearance. The victims would normally be picked up by plainclothesmen and the agencies would use the names of other agencies to keep their identities concealed.
From the statements of concerned persons, the inquiry commission had found information of some of the enforced disappearance victims being exchanged with the Indian authorities. The commission report cited the examples of Sukharanjan Bali and BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmad being relocated to India after abduction.
The commission has found evidence of the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina being involved in the enforced disappearances by issuing orders to this end.
Several senior officials of the Hasina administration have also been found to be involved in these incidents of enforced disappearance. They include the former prime minister's defence advisor Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC)'s former director general Ziaul Ahsan and police officials Md Monirul Islam and Mohammad Harun Ar Rashid.
Persons involved in the enforced disappearances had no idea who they were killing or torturing. One team would pick up a person, another team would detain him in a cell and a third team would kill or release the victim
How they would disappear
According to the report, the target of enforced disappearance would first be located with the help of technology. The commission report says that the National Monitoring Centre (NMC) and later the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), run by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), would carry out the surveillance through mobile phones.
The commission says that the members of the various agencies and forces involved in the enforced disappearances would introduce themselves as "persons of the administration".
The Detective Branch (DB) of police would conduct operations, introducing themselves as RAB. And RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) would identify themselves as DB.
Generally speaking, the abductions and enforced disappearances took place at night. The victim would be picked up from the street or from home and forced into a microbus. The victims would then be blindfolded and handcuffed. All this would happen so fast that the people nearby would not even realise what had happened.
Descriptions of torture
The interim report of the commission reveals horrific descriptions of torture and killing. It says after being picked up, the victims would generally be kept in dark rooms where they would be subject to all sorts of torture. By means of the interviews of several victims, the commission has located eight such secret detention centres. These were run by RAB and the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit.
Describing an incident of torture, the report says that in 2020, a young man was picked up from Dhanmondi, Dhaka, and his lips were sewn together without using any sort of anaesthesia.
The commission found evidence of many being abducted and then killed. In most of these cases, the victims were shot in the head and killed. The body would be tied to a block of cement and thrown into the river. Buriganga and Shitalakkhya are among the rivers used to dispose of the bodies. The bodies would be flung off Dhaka's Postogola and Kanchan bridges.
Quoting a person from RAB, the report said that one victim tried to jump into the river and escape. He was retrieved and shot dead in that very same place. In the description of another incident, it was said that a body was left lying on the railway tracks so that it would be torn apart. In another incident, a person was shoved in front of a speeding vehicle. But the vehicle swerved and the person was escaped death.
A witness said that at an 'orientation' programme of RAB, it was shown how two people were shot and killed on a bridge.
The report of the commission of enforced disappearances said that in many instances the persons involved in the enforced disappearances had no idea who they were killing or torturing. One team would pick up a person, another team would detain him in a cell and a third team would kill or release the victim.