Tahmid IslamAs I sit here reading the Enforced Disappearance Commission’s findings, my hands
tremble. The weight of these documented atrocities from Sheikh Hasina’s previous
Awami League government feels almost unbearable. Yet, as both a journalist and a
human being, I have a duty to ensure these stories are told.
Every morning, somewhere in Bangladesh, a former prisoner wakes up with memories
that no human should have to carry. Today, through the Enforced Disappearance
Commission’s findings, their stories finally emerge from the shadows of the previous
Awami League regime’s detention centers.
A ray of Hope
While these wounds still bleed, a ray of hope emerged on August 29, 2024. The interim
government took a decisive step that their predecessors had deliberately avoided –
signing the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance. This wasn’t just a signature on paper; it was an acknowledgment of
past horrors and a commitment to prevent their recurrence.
The contrast is stark and telling. While the previous Awami League regime turned detention
centers into chambers of systematic torture, today’s interim government is actively engaging with
international mechanisms for accountability. This signing represents more than just a policy shift
- it’s a promise to the victims that their suffering will not be forgotten or repeated.
But signatures alone cannot heal broken bodies or mend shattered families. This commitment
must be the beginning, not the end. The Convention’s requirements must be fully implemented.
Every case documented by the Commission demands investigation. Every perpetrator must face
justice. Every survivor deserves not just acknowledgment, but reparation.
Introduction of the forced disappearance commission
A 5-member investigation commission was formed by Interim Government Bangladesh consists:
(1) Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury, Retired Judge, High Court Division, as Chairman
(2) Justice Md. Farid Ahmed Shibli, Retired Additional Judge, High Court Division, as
Member
(3) Nur Khan, Human Rights Activist, as Member
(4) Nabila Idris, Professor, BRAC University, as Member (
(5) Sajjad Hossain, Human Rights Activist, as Member.
The inquiry commission said in a provisional report that it has found ex-premier Sheikh
Hasina’s involvement in alleged incidents of enforced disappearance. The Commission
for Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance estimated that the number of enforced
disappearances would be over 3,500.
The horrific experience of reading the report
I’ve spent days reading these accounts, often having to step away from my desk,
overwhelmed by the weight of human suffering they contain.
There are stories that break your heart, and then there are stories that shatter your very
faith in humanity. As I pore over the Enforced Disappearance Commission’s findings
about Bangladesh’s secret detention centers under Sheikh Hasina’s regime, I find
myself confronting the latter.
Enforced Disappearance Commission’s report
The Press Wing of the Chief Advisor has provided some parts of the report from the
Commission to the media. The full report has not been published, only the ‘publishable
parts’ have been provided. There, pictures of detention and torture have been found.
The commission’s investigation, along with statements from officials involved in the
incidents and victims of torture, have revealed various horrifying descriptions of detention
and torture.
According to the commission’s information, over the last 15 years from 2009 to 2024, 1,676
allegations of forced disappearances have been documented. Among these, the
commission has reviewed 758 allegations.
Analysis of the complaints shows that the highest number of disappearances, 130, occurred
in 2016, and up to now in 2024, 21 complaints have been filed.
The Details of the tortures
How do you process the revelation that babies were used as instruments of torture? That mothers
watched their infants being denied milk, their cries weaponized as tools of psychological
warfare? The Commission’s report documents a couple’s detention where their baby was
deliberately starved – not for any information the child held, but to break a father’s resolve. This
isn’t just cruelty; it’s an abomination that transcends our worst nightmares.
Among the Commission’s most haunting testimonies is that of a witness who returned to identify
the room where she had been held as a child with her mother in a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
facility. Her words – “her mother never returned” – echo with a finality that encapsulates the
regime’s brutality. Somewhere in Bangladesh today, that child lives with questions that may
never be answered.
The systematic nature of these disappearances is staggering. While Hasina’s
government brazenly claimed missing persons had drowned in the Mediterranean
seeking refuge in Europe, the Commission has uncovered evidence suggesting the
former Prime Minister’s direct involvement in these enforced disappearances. Today,
approximately 200 Bangladeshis abducted by security forces remain missing – each
number representing a family frozen in time, waiting for answers.
Horrors includes sexual tortures
How do you process learning that a businessman from Rajshahi had three kilograms of
stone hung from his genitals? A month after his torture, the Commission noted his eye
still pooled with blood – a silent testament to the cruelty he endured when DB office
officials deliberately damaged both his eyes.
The systematic nature of the torture speaks to something beyond mere brutality – it
reveals a calculated methodology of breaking human beings. Religious leaders,
respected in their communities, were stripped naked and humiliated before groups of
ten people. Imagine the psychological scarring, the violation of not just body but spirit.
They even inserted hot eggs and cold ice one after the other through the anus of the
victims. The torturers knew exactly what they were doing when they chose this specific
form of degradation for clerics and pious individuals.
The Commission’s findings reveal torture methods that seem pulled from medieval
dungeons – electric clips attached to genitals, fingernails and toenails wrenched out
with pliers. Some prisoners endured the agony of pins being inserted into their fingers,
then heated with gas lighters until their fingertips turned black. Others were suspended
by their handcuffed hands or feet for endless hours, their shoulders and joints bearing
weights they were never meant to carry.
Each method seems designed not just to cause pain, but to leave lasting trauma.
Sheikh Hasina’s “Aynaghor” wasn’t just a place – it was a calculated system of breaking
human beings.
But perhaps the most heartbreaking revelations involve the systematic use of sexual
violence against families. Wives, sisters, and mothers were brought in and stripped
naked before prisoners – a psychological torture that continues to echo through entire
families. The commission documented a case that speaks of a wife raped sixteen times.
Behind this statistic lies a family forever altered, their lives have been shattered forever.
The commission deserves appreciation
The Enforced Disappearance Commission has done what many thought impossible –
they’ve documented and exposed these horrors. But documentation alone isn’t enough.
These findings demand action, justice, and most importantly, guarantee that such
systematic abuse never happens again in Bangladesh.
As we move forward, we must ensure these victims’ stories aren’t forgotten. Their
suffering under the previous Awami League regime must serve as a permanent
reminder of what happens when power goes unchecked. The mirror room may be part
of our past, but its reflections must guide our future where such atrocities become
impossible to imagine, let alone execute.
The path Forward
The courage of those who survived to tell their stories, and the diligence of the
Commission in documenting these atrocities, demands our response. Their stories,
though difficult to hear, must be told. For in the telling lies the first step toward justice,
and in justice lies our only path to healing.
