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Published : 05 Jun 2025, 12:21 AM
The chief advisor’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has said the second interim report by the Commission on Enforced Disappearance reveals details about the perpetrators involved in disappearances during the Awami League government's tenure, as well as the torture endured by the victims.
He said, “The most important finding is that the RAB’s Intelligence Unit played a major role in this incident.”
The members of the commission, led by retired High Court justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury, submitted the second interim report of the Commission on Enforced Disappearances to Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus at 11am on Wednesday.
Later, Shafiqul spoke about the report at a media briefing at the Foreign Service Academy.
He quoted Yunus as saying that opinions should be taken from those who have been victims of disappearances on the issues immediately so that the law ministry and the home ministry can take necessary steps along with the concerned agencies.
The Cabinet Division formed this five-member committee headed by Justice Moinul on Aug 27, 2024, to investigate cases of enforced disappearances allegedly carried out by law-enforcing agencies during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year tenure in power.
The commission submitted an interim report to Yunus on Dec 14, 2024. Some parts of the report were also published the day after.
The report said evidence has been found implicating Hasina as the “instructor of disappearances” during the Awami League regime.
It also recommended starting the trial process for alleged disappearances and disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
Highlighting the information contained in the second report, the press secretary said: “According to the commission’s information, many victims were taken to secluded places via boats and killed. Their bodies were filled with cement and thrown into the river.
“Some were shot, some killed by injection. Some bodies were stuffed into sacks and thrown onto railway tracks to be torn apart by passing trains. Others were pushed in front of moving vehicles.”
Shafiqul said this information was presented in the report based on interviews with relatives of the victims and some “perpetrators”.
He said, “The details of this horrific incident are so heartbreaking that Professor Yunus said a ‘museum of horrors’ needs to be set up to preserve them.
“The museum being set up in Gonobhaban to commemorate the July uprising will have documents of these atrocities.
“A major finding is that many members of the law-enforcing agencies have joined these activities only to get promotion or rewards such as PPM/BPM, or getting posted in Dhaka, etc.
“Many did not want to get involved, and some even wrote letters expressing that. Two such letters have also been mentioned in the commission’s report.”
He said, “The commission is analysing the submitted complaints. The final report will outline these incidents in detail, including which forces the perpetrators came from and how they were involved.”
On Feb 12, Yunus visited three secret detention centres known as “Aynaghor”.
He was accompanied by the Advisory Council and members of the Commission on Enforced Disappearances.
More than three hundred people are still missing.
Shafiqul said, “This is one of the commission’s core responsibilities. It is collecting information from victims about the circumstances of their abductions, where they were held, the forms of torture they endured, and who was involved.
“Based on this information, potential perpetrators are being questioned.
“Interviews are also being conducted with members of relevant forces, including RAB and the police.
“We have already found some detention centres. We are relentlessly attempting to find out the current status of over the 300 missing”
Quoting the chief advisor, he said: “This commission will continue its work until every last missing person is found.
“Those involved in the disappearances will be tried in Bangladesh. So far, 1,350 out of 1,850 cases have been scrutinised.
“It is estimated that there are about 3,500 disappearances. The work is very time-consuming and has to be done in detail. But we are committed to bringing those involved to justice.”
