DUCSU wants trial of all involved in enforced disappearances, killings

DUCSU office building at Dhaka University campus_11zon

Dhaka, Oct 11 --Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) has demanded the trial of those responsible for enforced disappearances, killings, and human rights violations ‘committed under state patronage’.

DUCSU raised the demand in a statement signed by DUCSU Vice President (VP) Abu Shadik Kayem, General Secretary (GS) S M Farhad, and Assistant General Secretary (AGS) Mohiuddin Khan.

They said officials of DGFI, Rab, and other related military and law enforcement agencies who were directly or indirectly involved in these crimes must be brought under the law.

“Unless true justice is established in the country, no law enforcement agency-be it the army, RAB, or police—will regain the trust of people. Bringing the criminals under trial will not diminish the honour of the army, RAB, or police but will instead transform them into more credible and people-oriented institutions,” said the statement.

The investigation of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances must be conducted transparently, impartially and according to international standards so that the victim families can get justice.

The previous regime was the darkest period in Bangladesh’s history during which enforced disappearances, killings, torture, and extrajudicial executions took place under state shelter, reads the statement.

According to the report of Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, over 1,800 complaints have already been submitted and the victims include ordinary citizens, students, working-class people, and political activists.

The DUCSU statement said numerous students from various educational institutions across the country have been detained, tortured, and subjected to enforced disappearance due to political dissent.

It also added that alarmingly, the commission’s report revealed direct and indirect involvement of a neighboring country in the enforced disappearances, killings, and crimes against humanity.

This issue poses a grave threat to Bangladesh’s national security and sovereignty, it added.

“The crimes of enforced disappearance, killing, and crimes against humanity are not solely the responsibility of autocrat Sheikh Hasina and her political circle. Rather, multiple law enforcement forces including the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), RAB, and several high-ranking officers were directly involved. The inhumane torture carried out in secret detention centers like Ayna Ghar is shameful and condemnable in any civilized society,” reads the statement.

DUCSU’s statement said forcibly disappearing numerous citizens for political dissent, implicating them in false cases, and branding them as “militants” were part of a planned strategy of state terrorism.

The statement said that recently, the International Criminal Tribunal has issued arrest warrants against 28 people including Sheikh Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and the former head of DGFI, on charges of enforced disappearance, secret detention, and torture.

This step has brought a ray of hope amid the long-standing grief and outrage over disappearances and state repression but it is not enough, it said.

The student community will remain vocal against any conspiracy to provide “safe exit” or impunity for the identified criminals. - UNB