BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has said the culture of disappearances must be stopped and that the state must play a strong role in this regard to uphold human rights.
He said this in a statement issued on Monday on the occasion of the International Week of the Disappeared.
Tarique said that about 666 people were abducted by law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh between 2009 and March 2024.
“According to BNP estimates, the number of enforced disappearances will be several times higher. Most of them are still missing, many bodies have been found, and some have been shown arrested after a long time,” he added.
“This is an example of the brutal misrule of the previous Awami regime. The mentioned number is based on the reports given by the families of the enforced disappearance victims, and many terrified families did not have the courage to file a report,” he said.
“No trace of the people who were taken away by law enforcement agencies has been found even in 10-15 years,” the BNP acting chairman said.
“Leaders, activists and supporters of the opposition political parties were mainly the victims of the abductions,” he said, adding that the country's businessmen, intellectuals and ordinary people were also abducted.
“According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, abducting a person is a crime against human rights. The culture of abduction must be stopped to uphold human rights,” Tarique said.
