Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has rejected a report done on enforced disappearances in Bangladesh by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday, reports Bangla Tribune.
Calling the HRW report “incorrect,” the home minister pointed out that there are various reasons why people have disappeared in the past.
He added: "Some have disappeared due to business related disputes. We have already investigated such incidents. This report is incorrect."
He made the comment at a briefing held at the ministry in response to the report released on Wednesday.
The 82-page report is titled, “‘We Don’t Have Him’: Secret Detentions and Enforced Disappearances in Bangladesh.”
According to the report, at least 90 people were victims of enforced disappearance in 2016 alone.
Also Read - End disappearances and secret detentions, HRW urges Bangladesh govt
The home minister further said that the law enforcement have previously arrested BNP leaders by “following the rules and based on specific allegations”.
HRW urged the Bangladesh government to stop this widespread practice of enforced disappearances immediately, order prompt, impartial and independent investigations into these allegations, provide answers to families, and prosecute security forces responsible for such egregious rights violations.
Most of the detainees were produced in court after weeks or months of secret detention, the report said, but it also documented 21 cases of alleged detainees who were later killed, and nine others whose whereabouts remain unknown.
According to the report, the 90 cases include three sons of prominent opposition politicians who were allegedly picked up over several weeks in August 2016; one was released after six months of secret detention, while the other two remain disappeared.
In the first five months of 2017, 48 disappearances were reported. There are allegations of severe torture and ill-treatment while in secret custody, the report said.
The report also documented the continuing disappearance of 19 opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists. The 19 men were picked up by law enforcement authorities in eight separate incidents over a two-week period in or around Dhaka in the weeks before the January 2014 elections, it said.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
