Enforced disappearance: Wives of victims lead miserable life

They do not know if their husbands are still alive or they are dead by now. No one tells them if they have become widows. There is no appropriate word in the dictionary to name them, these fateless women whose husbands have been victims of enforced disappearance.

Some of the women's husband disappeared three years ago while some eight years ago. But the stories of their plight are no different. Prothom Alo, on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, talked to five such women who shared their stories of never-ending struggles.

Their lives came to a standstill when their husbands went missing. And uncertainty looms over their future.

According to Asian Human Rights Commission, as many as 532 people have been victims of enforced disappearance in the country from the beginning of 2009 to July 2019. As many as 158 of them are still missing. Some were later shown arrested by the law enforcement while some were found dead.

Farzana Akhter married Parvez Hossain when she was 15. Parvez, president of BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s (JCD) Bangshal thana unit, was picked up by the people who identified themselves as law enforcers in December 2013.

Farzana was carrying her second child at that time. Parvez had businesses in Islampur and English Road which are already gone now. Farzana left her in-laws' house and moved in with her parents. Now she and her children are dependent on her mother.

“There is no one to buy my children chips or chocolate. We don’t have any joy in our life. We don’t go anywhere. Someday you’ll hear that Parvez’s wife has committed suicide,” Farzana said.

Jesmin Akhter, wife of Satkhira’s Mokhlesur Rahman, also has a similar story to tell. She too has shifted to her parents' place. Jesmin was also carrying a child when Mokhles went missing on 4 August, 2016.

Jesmin now sees herself as a burden, a friendless person.

She is waiting for her husband’s return, for she can express all the unspoken to him.

Faria Akhter, wife of Kazi Forhad, JCD's Ward No 28 unit president, is going through the same suffering. She has moved to her mother's place in Sylhet. Her schoolgirl daughter is growing, so is her expenses. When the girl is asked about her father, she says he is in Dhaka for business purposes.

Story of Rina Alam, wife of Pallabi thana Jubo League leader Nur Alam, is a bit different. A political colleague bears the expense of one of Nur’s three sons. Nur Alam had bought a piece of land. Rina has built four houses there and rented them. She has not bought anything for herself since the disappearance of her husband.

Former leader of Bangladesh Chhatra Union KM Shamim Akhter was picked up in 2011 while bringing his seven-year-old son back from school. Witnesses asked the assailants’ identity while he was being picked up. They said they were members of law enforcement agencies. Shamim’s wife Jhorna Khanom has contacted all the law enforcement agencies, but to no avail.

Jhorna now ekes out a living by working with a human rights organisation. She along with her 15-year-old son and her mother-in-law struggles to live a normal life.
"When someone is dead, his near and dear ones can go to his grave and pray for him. Where will my son go to pray for his father?" Jhorna lamented.