Enforced disappearances increased ahead of elections: Commission report

While the Awami League was in power, 61 cases of enforced disappearance occurred in 2012, and the number more than doubled the following year. Again, in 2018, the number of enforced disappearances was higher than in the year after.

Presenting year-by-year data, the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances states that incidents of enforced disappearance increased ahead of elections, with leaders, activists, and supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami being selectively targeted.

During the Awami League’s 16 years in power, enforced disappearance became a routine occurrence. After the fall of this government in 2024 following the student–public uprising, the interim government formed the Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances. The five-member commission, headed by Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury, submitted its final report to the Chief Adviser on 4 January.

Page 16 of the report states that ahead of elections, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists were arrested en masse and selectively subjected to enforced disappearance.

More to follow…