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The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance on Saturday in its first interim report found prima facie involvement of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Haisna and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique in enforced disappearances.

- Ousted PM Hasina, high ranking officials of security forces involved
- 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances
- Estimated enforced disappearances to cross 3,500
- 758 complaints scrutinised, 77pc reappeared alive, 23pc still missing
- Disbanding of RAB recommended
- Next report likely in March

The five-member commission led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury submitted the report titled ‘Unfolding the truth’ to chief adviser Professor Muhamofmad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in the capital on Saturday, said a press release of the chief adviser’s press wing.

The commission recommended disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion, the release said. 

The commission also found involvement of former National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre director general and sacked Major General Ziaul Ahsan, senior police officers, including former Special Branch chief Monirul Islam and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police detective branch chief Md Harun-Or-Rashid, in several incidents of enforced disappearance.

‘We have found the primary involvement of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina from witness statements,’ commission member and BRAC University teacher  Nabila Idris told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· without disclosing further details.

The battalion on Thursday offered public apology for the extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and all other misdeeds it had perpetrated since its establishment in 2004.

‘One cannot get pardon after killing people. RAB has to be punished for its misdeeds,’ said another commission member and human rights activist Sazzad Hossain. 

According to rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, 3,973 people were killed in reported crossfire and encounters with members of law enforcement and security agencies or died in their custody between January 2004 and June 2024.

Of them, 1,286 people were killed in reported gunfights with the RAB or in its custody, as reported by the elite force, the ASK data shows. 

It also shows that the RAB and police are jointly accused of killing 94 people during the same period.

On December 10, 2021, the United States Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the RAB for human rights abuse. 

The commission said that they already recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances, while 758 complaints have already been scrutinised, said the chief aadviser’s press wing. 

The commission estimates the number of enforced disappearances in the country would cross 3,500.

Asked about how many victims of the 758 scrutinised disappearances are missing, commission member Sazzad Hossain said that 23 per cent of them were still missing and 77 per cent reappeared later.

Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, the Rapid Action Battalion, the police, the Detective Branch of police, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit and thr Criminal Investigation Department were allegedly involved in the enforced disappearances, according to commission members.

The press release quoted commission chairman Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury as saying that they found a ‘systematic design’ to hide the incidents of enforced disappearance.

The commission also found that forces exchanged the victims and operations were deliberately segmented, said the release.

Individuals carrying out enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing lacked knowledge about victims, the release quoted Justice Moyeenul.

The commission chairman said that they would submit another interim report in March and would require at least another year to complete the scrutiny of all allegations they received.

The chief adviser thanked the commission for submitting the interim report and promised all possible support in accomplishing the job.

‘You are doing a really very important job. We are ready to give you all kinds of support that you need,’ the release quoted Yunus as saying. 

The chief adviser said that he would visit some of the Aynaghar or secret detention centres and joint interrogation cells detected by the commission to get first-hand knowledge about the sufferings of the victims. 

Earlier, the commission alleged that some evidence was destroyed in secret detention centres and some cell structures were also changed. 

Commission members said that it found secret detention centres at eight places in Dhaka city and its adjoining areas, including the DGFI’s joint interrogation cell popularly known as ‘Aynaghar’ located at its headquarter. 

Commission member Nabila Idris said that they also found a secret detention centre of RAB-7 in Chattogram. 

‘We are yet to visit all the places as we have been working for about three months. If we visit other areas of the country, we will surely find more secret detention centres,’ she told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·. 

Commission members Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli, human rights activist Nur Khan Liton, BRAC University teacher Nabila Idris, and human rights activist Sazzad Hossain, interim government’s advisory council members Adilur Rahman Khan and Sharmeen S Murshid, chief adviser’s principal secretary Md Siraj Uddin Mia and press secretary Shafiqul Alam, among others, were present during the submission of the report.

The commission was formed by the interim government led by professor Muhammad Yunus after it had taken office on August 8 following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5 through a student-led mass uprising.