WHERE? WHY?:Daily Star

Mother of Masum, one of the eight people missing since being abducted allegedly by law enforcers exactly a year ago, fails to hold back tears as she speaks at a press conference of the families of forced disappearance victims at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday. PHOTO: Palash Khan Four-year-old Arwa was supposed to be cuddled by her father. Instead, she had to go to the Jatiya Press
Club yesterday with her family members, crying for his return.  “Bring back my father...bring back…” Little Arwa hardly could complete a sentence; she was in tears, so was her elder sister Raita, 10. They were attending a press conference arranged by families of eight victims of “enforced disappearance”. Six including Arwa's father Sajedul Islam Suman of Nakhalpara went missing from Bashundhara Residential Area and two others from Shaheenbagh in the capital in December last year. The Rapid Action Battalion-1 picked them up between 8:00pm on December 4 and 2:00am of December 5, according to the families. The other seven are Zahidul Karim Tanvir, Mazharul Islam Russel, Abdul Quader Bhuiyan Masum, Asaduzzaman Rana, Al Amin, Adnan Chowdhury and Kawsar Ahmed. Advertisement According to rights body Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), as many as 250 were abducted, reportedly by law enforcers, between 2007 and 2013. At least 68 people were picked up last year alone. In the first nine months this year, the number rose to 82. Of them, 23 were found dead, while 10 others were released later, says an ASK report. State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan, however, denies that the government and its agencies were involved in any sort of enforced disappearance. “I asked Rab. I asked DB whether they knew about any such incident or if it was committed by them. They all denied,” he told BBC Bangla Service last night. About the disappearance of the eight, the home boss said he was aware of the allegations as some of the victims were from his constituency. He claimed the families did not inform him of the incidents after he became state minister. But Sajedul's sister Sanjida Islam claimed that the families wrote to the state minister and the home secretary on July 24 this year about the alleged disappearances. Asked whether the ministry will probe the allegations against Rab, the state minister told BBC Bangla that he would look into the matter. Contacted, Rab Director General Mukhlesur Rahman said they had received complaints about the alleged disappearance of some of the eight and they are trying to trace the victims. About the allegation against Rab, the DG said they were yet to have any evidence for these claims. At the press conference, Prof CR Abrar of Dhaka University; Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikya; Nur Khan, director (investigation) of Ain o Salish Kendra, and Zakir Hossain of rights platform Maulik Adhikar Suroksha Committee were present alongside the victims' family members. Sajedul's mother Hajera Khatun said her son, general secretary of ward-38 BNP, had been staying out of home fearing arrest and sometimes spent nights at his cousin Tanvir's house. On the evening of December 4, Sajedul was hanging out with Tanvir, Russel, Masum, Rana and Al Amin beside a road near Tanvir's under-construction building at Block I in Bashundhara. Around 8:00pm, some 15 Rab personnel reached there and picked up the six, Sajedul's sister Sanjida quoted a construction worker, who claimed to have witnessed the whole incident, as saying. Al Amin's family lodged an abduction case with Bhatara Police Station on January 26 against some unidentified people. This is the only case filed in this connection. Two other victims, Adnan Chowdhury and Kawsar Ahmed were allegedly picked up from their residences at Shaheenbagh around 2:00am on December 5. "A group of seven to eight people with firearms entered our house and took away Adnan, saying that they needed to interrogate him for some information. They used two vehicles including one with 'Rab' written on its side," Adnan's mother told The Daily Star. Another victim Rana, who was from Rangpur, had been staying at his sister's home in Dhaka and preparing for the BCS exams at the time of the alleged abduction.  “My mother has called me almost every day over the last one year,” said Rana's sister Minara Begum. “All she wants to know if there is anything about him. But I got no answer for her.” She added, “I don't think anybody is listening to us. I don't also think the prime minister is seeing us shed tears.” Russel and his younger sister Laboni used to have fun all the time, as they are immediate siblings. “I can hardly sleep now. I wake up too often thinking that he might come back,” said Laboni, choking back tears. Masum's mother said she had barely gone out of home all her life. But now she had been going from door to door. Her son was preparing to be banker. “Eight people have been abducted in one day… What kind of country is this?” she asked, wailing.