Five men did not respond to the summons by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance to appear before it early November last year over the alleged enforced disappearance of retired lieutenant colonel Md Hasinur Rahman.
Of them, four were serving in the army at the time of the issuance of the summons and the other was a retired serviceman at the time.
The commission in a聽 letter on October 28, 2024 summoned one former and four then serving army officers to appear before it on November 7 for questioning, said the commission members.聽
The five men are retired brigadier general Redwan Al Mahmud, colonel Moinul Hasan, lieutenant colonel Akter Hamid Khan, lieutenant colonel Abdullah Al Azhar and lieutenant colonel Moksurul Haque.
鈥榃e have summoned many former and serving military officials to the commission for questioning over the enforced disappearance. All of them came to the commission in response to the summons, except these five,鈥� commission member Sazzad Hossain told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday.
He said that by not responding to the summons they were violating law as the commission served as a civil court in limited purpose.
鈥楢s they were not present in the commission in the scheduled date, we will provide report to the government and they would not get the chance to defend themselves,鈥� said Sazzad.
He also said that when the commission summoned them, four of them were serving in the army.
鈥榃e don鈥檛 know their present status whether they are still serving or have retired,鈥� Sazzad added.
When contacted, the Inter Service Public Relations Directorate told 抖阴精品 that all the five men were now retired and that the ISPR would not comment on retired officials.
According to the commission, Lieutenant Colonel Md Hasinur Rahman for the first time became the victim of enforced disappearance on July 9, 2011 when he was still in the army.
On August 8, 2018, he became a victim of enforced disappearance for the second time when he had already retired.
According to a report the enforced disappearance commission submitted to the chief adviser on Sunday, although a new director general assumed office of the聽Directorate General of Forces Intelligence several days after August 5, 2024, at least some of the evidence was manipulated at the detention centre of the joint interrogation cell at the DGFI headquarters.
The report further said that during the visit at the detention cell at the DGFI headquarters, commission members found that the cell鈥檚 wall was freshly painted, implying that whatever evidence was on the wall was destroyed. There were signs of hasty 鈥榮tructural modifications鈥� also which was further indicative of concealing evidence of crimes.
Despite the director-general persuasively argued that he was not directly involved in crimes committed before his tenure, his immediate response to manipulate evidence underscored the coercive power of this culture of impunity, the report said.
鈥楬is [the DG] actions, ostensibly to shield perpetrators of past crimes, went against his own self-interest and professional integrity. This pattern of doctoring of evidence and non-cooperation was not isolated to DGFI only,鈥� the report added.
The chief adviser鈥檚 press wing shared part of the report with the media on Monday.
The interim government after taking over on August 8 formed the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance.
A total of 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances were recorded in the commission so far.
In its first interim report submitted to the chief adviser on December 14, the commission found prima face involvement of Sheikh Hasina and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser retired major general Tarique Ahmed Siddique in enforced disappearances.
It also found prima facie evidence of the involvement of Indian authorities in the system of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.
