Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina involved in enforced disappearances, says inquiry panel

A commission formed by Bangladesh’s interim government to investigate enforced disappearances said on Saturday that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was found to be involved in such cases during her 16-year regime.

On August 27, the interim government in Dhaka formed the five-member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance, led by retired justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury, to investigate enforced disappearances by security forces during Hasina’s tenure.

The commission was asked to trace and identify missing persons and investigate the circumstances under which they were forced to disappear by various intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

On Saturday, the commission submitted a report on the matter to Muhammad Yunus, the head of the interim government. The report recommended the disbanding of anti-terror outfit Rapid Action Battalion, which has been accused of human rights abuse.

Hasina has in the past consistently denied that her Awami League government was involved in enforced disappearances.

The commission said on Saturday that it recorded 1,676 complaints about enforced disappearances, adding that 758 of these cases had been scrutinised. The number of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh may have crossed 3,500, it added.

It claimed that India’s involvement in such cases was a matter of “public record”.

In a statement on the report, Chowdhury said that the commission had “found the prima facie involvement of former prime minister...

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