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Published : 07 Apr 2026, 05:31 PM
International Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam says a separate “Enforced Disappearance Ordinance” or law is unnecessary for the trial of such cases, claiming that the existing ICT Act itself has sufficient jurisdiction.
He made the remarks at the prosecution office on Tuesday in the wake of parliament passing the “International Crimes Tribunals (Amendment) Bill-2026”.
Through this, enforced disappearances have been formally defined as a crime against humanity.
Welcoming the decision to repeal the ordinance, the chief prosecutor said: “The crimes that were under the Enforced Disappearance Ordinance were already included in our law (Tribunal Act).
“I did not see any need to form a separate law to form a tribunal there from the beginning. Personally, I felt it was an unnecessary law.”
He added, “The merging of the Enforced Disappearance Ordinance with the ICT Act is a right and proper move. This will accelerate the process of adjudicating disappearances.”
On the complaints received from “Maayer Daak”, an organisation of families of enforced disappeared victims, Aminul said: “Although we have officially received 71 applications, there are about 101 complaints according to the organisation.
“Investigating such a large number of victims is a time-consuming matter because these crimes have been committed for a long time and there are many secrets involved.”
Stating that it is not possible to disclose all the information as they are tied to active investigations, he said: “I have assured the victims’ families that we will be able to show visible and significant progress within the next month. We are investigating each complaint individually.”
Citing manpower and infrastructure shortages, he said: “There are likely to be thousands of complaints from across the country. With the current setup, we are under immense pressure. The prosecution and investigation agencies are working day and night.”
