A commission formed by Bangladesh’s interim government to investigate enforced disappearances has alleged India’s involvement in such cases during the 16-year rule of the neighbouring country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reported state-owned Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha on Saturday.
“Indian involvement in Bangladesh’s system of enforced disappearances is a matter of public record,” the news agency quoted the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance as having stated.
On August 27, the interim government in Dhaka formed the five-member commission, 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 December 14, the commission submitted a report titled Unfolding The Truth to Muhammad Yunus, the head of the interim government.
The report said the commission had found intelligence regarding the practice of “captive exchanges” between Bangladesh and India, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
It added that there is a “persistent suggestion in law enforcement circles” that some prisoners are still in Indian jails.
“We recommend the Ministries of Foreign and Home extend their best efforts to identify any Bangladeshi citizens who may still remain incarcerated in India,” it said. “It is beyond the jurisdiction of the commission to follow this trail outside Bangladesh.”
The commission highlighted two cases that it said could “shed light on how such operations were conducted”.
One of the cases involved Shukhranjan Bali, who was abducted from the Bangladesh Supreme Court premises and later found in an Indian jail. The other case was that of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salahuddin Ahmed.
In 2015, while in hiding in Dhaka’s Uttara, Ahmed described being held in a bare cell with a hole in the ground as a toilet, the report noted.
He also mentioned receiving a blanket labelled “TFI” identifying it as belonging to the “Task Force for Interrogation”.
The commission observed that the only known operational TFI centre at the time was run by the Rapid Action Battalion of the Intelligence Wing. Upon visiting the site, the commission confirmed that the Rapid Action Battalion still controls access, though the facility’s interior had been extensively damaged.
“Ahmed describes being transported to the India-Bangladesh border, where he was handed over to the officials on the Indian side,” the report added.
It alleged that the formal handover, along with Bangladeshi security personnel in disguises inside Indian territory, indicates a high level of coordination between the two governments and their security forces.
The commission said that it had 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.
The report recommended the disbanding of anti-terror outfit Rapid Action Battalion, which has been accused of human rights abuse.
In a statement on the report, Chowdhury said that the commission had “found the prima facie involvement of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser, Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, in the enforced disappearances”, the Hindustan Times reported.
Hasina has in the past consistently denied that her Awami League government was involved in enforced disappearances.
Yunus took over as the chief advisor to the interim government in Dhaka on August 8 after Hasina resigned and landed in India on August 5.
The Awami League leader fled the country after the student-led protests against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs, which started in July, snowballed into a broader agitation against her government.
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