Prof Yunus pledges all possible support for commission to identify people responsible

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Saturday pledged all possible support to the “Commission of Enquiry on Enforced Disappearances” to identify people responsible for enforced disappearances between 2009 and 2024 and hold them accountable.

“We will facilitate anything that you need and provide all kinds of support,” the Chief Adviser told the commission members during a meeting, attended by several advisers and key officials, at his office.

The commission members said that they would give the government an interim report by mid-December before working further on the matter.

Law adviser Asif Nazrul said that the government would extend the tenure of the commission even if it required it by two years and issue a necessary order, including creating a legal provision for protecting the victims.

Commission chairman Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, a retired High Court Justice, told the meeting that they received some 1,600 complaints as of October 31, scrutinised 400 complaints, and interviewed 140 complainants.

"We are overwhelmed by the number of complaints. Many people are still not coming to the commission, fearing retaliation from members of law enforcement agencies. From this, we can understand that the number of incidents is much higher than what has been reported so far,” said a commission member.

The commission member said that they suspect that the number of enforced disappearances could be at least 3,500, adding that they were working on identifying who had perpetrated the crimes and who had ordered them.

The commission member said that many of the victims are in jail, some even facing death sentences, as they were forced to give confessional statements before the court after they were shown arrested.

Some disappearance victims are believed to languish in jails in neighbouring India.

The commission members sought the government‍‍`s support for protecting the evidence in secret places where victims were kept hiding, according to the Chief Adviser’s press wing.

“Many victims told us that they did not see the sun for years. They could sense that it was a new day only when breakfast was served,” said a commission member.

The member requested the government impose an injunction on foreign trips of the accused individual and, if possible, cancel their passport.

Home adviser Lieutenant General (retired) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, who also attended the meeting, said they would do it immediately once they were provided with a list of accused by the commission.

Manfuj Alam, special assistance to the Chief Adviser, emphasised the importance of putting the findings of the commission in the public domain and exposing the individuals who had supervised the incidents of enforced disappearances.

Advisers Salehuddin Ahmed, Nurjahan Begum, Adilur Rahman Khan, M Sakhawat Hussain, Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, special assistant to the Chief Adviser, Lieutenant General (retired) Abdul Hafiz, cabinet secretary Sheikh Abdur Rashid, and principal press secretary to the Chief Adviser, Md Siraj Uddin Mia, were, among others, present in the meeting.