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Published : 16 Jun 2026, 02:02 AM
A Silence that Never Lifted
Five men vanish: Within 48 hours in May 2013, five local men vanished without a trace across two villages in Natore
Zero answers: Authorities and agencies deny any arrests, leaving distraught families with zero official closure for 13 years
Unbroken grief: Grieving parents plead for a trial or the return of bodies so they can finally bury their sons in peace
In the rural heart of Natore’s Baraigram, life moves in cycles marked by harvests, prayers, and waiting. For Anwara Begum, however, time has become something far heavier -- a sequence of days that no longer seem to lead anywhere.
Her son Kamal Hossain left home one evening in May 2013 after a full day in the fields. It was the season of jute-green rice stalks and exhausted farmers, and Kamal had spent the day cutting and carrying paddy with his mother. They had worked side by side, drying the grain in the courtyard before packing it into sacks after sunset.
He ate quickly that night and stepped outside, telling his mother he would return shortly.
He never did.
By midnight, whispers began to circulate in the village. A neighbour arrived with alarming news: Kamal had been taken by unidentified men. Anwara rushed out into the night, searching nearby homes and roads. There was no trace.
The following days brought only denials. She went first to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) office, then to the Detective Branch, and finally to the police station. Each time, she was told the same thing: no such arrest had taken place.
A general diary was eventually filed. It changed nothing.
More than a decade later, Anwara still speaks as if her son might walk through the door at any moment.
“I am still searching everywhere,” she said. “If he were alive, he would have come back. I see him in dreams, tied up, thrown into a river. If God has taken him, let him be at peace. But don’t let this happen to anyone else.”
Her voice carries both exhaustion and disbelief -- not at fate, but at the absence of explanation.
Kamal was not alone.
2 Days, 2 Places, 5 Disappearances
Just 48 hours before Kamal vanished, two other men were allegedly taken from Bongaon under similar circumstances. One was Rasel Gazi, a former Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member; the other his close friend Sentu Hossain.
Then, on 19 May 2013, three more men disappeared from Baraigram’s Bishwaroad and nearby areas: farmer Ibrahim Talukder, van driver Taiyeb Ali, and Kamal Hossain.
Within two days, five men from the same region had been taken.
None returned.
Families say they were never informed of any charges. No agency has confirmed detention. No court records have surfaced explaining their fate.
For relatives, the pattern is what deepens the anguish -- proximity, timing, and silence.
‘If There Was a Crime, There Should Have been a Trial”
Ibrahim’s day, like Kamal’s, began and ended in the fields. He spent it threshing rice with his father and brother, then left for Bongaon market in the evening.
By the next morning, his family had been told he was taken by men identifying themselves as law enforcers.
His younger brother still struggles to reconcile the absence with everyday life.
“If there was a crime, let there be a trial,” he said. “But how do you accept a disappearance like this? What kind of country is this?”
Their father Ruhul Amin filed a general diary. He says the paperwork itself took time to be issued. Even that brought no progress.
“We never saw any wrongdoing,” he said. “If the government can bring him back, we will be at peace. If not, what can we do after all these years?”
His mother Sufia Khatun speaks in simpler terms -- not of systems, but of return.
“Bring my son back,” she said. “Even if he is dead, let us have the body. At least we can bury him.”
A Friendship that Ended in Disappearance
Rasel and Sentu’s case carries a different kind of rupture -- one rooted in friendship.
They had grown up together and were known in their village for being inseparable. On the evening of May 17, 2013, Sentu reportedly called Rasel out of his home. They left together never to return.
The following morning, families learned that both had allegedly been taken from Bongaon intersection by individuals claiming to be from law enforcement.
Years later, Rasel’s mother still speaks in the present tense.
“My son should come back,” Julekha Begum said. “Let the government find him and bring him home.”
Rasel’s father Omar Faruk Gazi said his son had served in the border forces and was not involved in crime.
“If the authorities truly search, maybe we can still find him,” he said.
Sentu’s brother Sujan Mahmud, however, suffers a different kind of grief -- one shaped by time without resolution.
“We still believe he did not die,” he said. “But we do not know where he is. Even his body, if there is one, we have not received. Our parents died waiting.”
‘Very Unfortunate’: Police Response
Local police acknowledge the cases but say little progress has been made.
An additional superintendent of police in Natore described the disappearances as “very unfortunate”, noting that multiple investigations were carried out at the time.
He said cases had been filed and suspects named, but no conclusive findings were reached. “These were ordinary people,” he said. “Even local residents cannot clearly explain why they were taken.”
He added that because the incidents occurred more than a decade ago, reconstructing events has become extremely difficult.
A Waiting that Has Outlived Certainty
For the families, however, the passage of time has not diminished the central question: where did their sons go?
In Baraigram and Bongaon, life has moved forward in visible ways -- new roads, shifting markets, changing generations. But in the homes of the missing, time remains suspended at the moment a door closed and never reopened.
There are no graves to visit, no final rituals, no confirmed endings -- only absence, repeated across years, and the unresolved hope that somewhere, an answer still exists.
