BNP will do whatever necessary to prevent enforced disappearances: Salahuddin

BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has pledged that if the party comes to power through public vote, it will take all necessary steps to prevent enforced disappearances and ensure that no one vanishes in the country again.

"If the people give us the opportunity to form the government, we will do everything required to preventy disappearances," he said at a discussion organised by Mayer Daak, a platform of the families of those who fell victim to enforced disappearances, at the Bangla Academy today (29 August), marking International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

"I am fortunate to be alive today. Otherwise, I too would have been just a photograph like many of my colleagues who never returned," he said.

Recalling his own ordeal after being picked up in 2015, Salahuddin said he had been confined in a small, suffocating cell for 61 days, reports UNB.

He described how he was kept in a filthy five-by-ten-foot room with no ventilation, often blindfolded, and at times told he might be moved to another place without the certainty of survival.

"I prayed to Allah that my body be returned to my family if I died there. I did not see Allah with my eyes, but I felt His presence," he added.

He added that those responsible for crimes have neither acknowledged nor expressed regret for their actions.

Salahuddin also addressed recent attempts by a few political parties to create confusion over the election roadmap. "If there is any doubt, let us discuss it openly. Unity can't be broken; any confusion or hesitation must be resolved through dialogue," he added.

Survivors recount ordeal

At the discussion, Humam Quader Chowdhury said that since the 2024 mass uprising, only two or three of the disappeared have returned. 

"I had hoped more would come back, but we have received nothing. The government had promised to return the missing and provide information for investigations, but nothing has happened," he said.

Shairul Islam, a survivor of an enforced disappearance, recalled being abducted in March 2017 with four others. "Only two of us returned; the other three are still missing. After my release, I was sentenced in a weapons case in June 2024 and am still on the run. Those responsible remain in government service," he said.

The discussion also heard from the family of Fazlur Rahman Kajol, joint convener of Ward 7 of Mugda Thana Jubo Shramik Dal, who died in police custody during a BNP protest on 28 October 2023.

The session ended with calls from Salahuddin and others for stronger legal protections, independent investigations, and political will to ensure no citizen disappears again.