CHANGES made to the secret detention centres apparently to destroy evidence, as the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has found, is gravely concerning. The commission, formed on August 27 to identify and find out the people forcibly disappeared by security and law enforcement agencies during the autocratic Awami League regime, on October 2 said that it had found the existence of a number of such centres, including a joint interrogation cell known as 鈥榓ynaghar鈥� on the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence headquarters premises with 22 cells. The commission is reported to have visited the place on September 25 and the secret cells of the Detective Branch and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit on October 1. The commission, however, did not elaborate on the changes made to the centres and the destruction of evidence. Nonetheless, this suggests that the law enforcement and security agencies are trying to paper over their wrongdoings. While it is apparent that not all in the law enforcement and security agencies were complicit in enforced disappearances, which earned Bangladesh a negative image, the agencies cannot shrug off their responsibility and should cooperate with the commission to restore their integrity and regain trust.
More than 600 cases of enforced disappearances have been reported by local and international rights groups since the Awami League government assumed office in 2009. In some cases, the disappeared people were later found dead. In other cases, they returned but kept silent about what happened. And, the whereabouts of many are yet to be known. The victim families even found it difficult to lodge complaints about enforced disappearances as the police often outright refused to register complaints while the government of the day ignored calls of local and international rights groups for an independent and impartial investigation of the incidents. After the commission at hand sought complaints regarding enforced disappearances, it is reported to have received 400 complaints in 13 working days between September 15 and October 2 and has recorded statements of 75 people. The incidents occurred during the Awami League regime between January 6, 2009 and August 5, 2024. Most of the victims have blamed, as the commission says, the Rapid Action Battalion, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, the Detective Branch and the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit for enforced disappearances. Enforced disappearances are one of the heinous crimes that the Awami League government used to muzzle the then opposition and dissidents and create an environment of fear.
The government must, therefore, ensure that no such crimes happen again. The government and the commission should fully commit, investigate and bring errant members of law enforcement and security agencies to justice. The agencies should also realise that any destruction of evidence will go against them and should cooperate with the commission.
