Families of disappearance victims being ‘forced to sign false statements’: BNP

BNP on Sunday alleged that the government has let loose police on the family members of those who were subjected to enforced disappearances to take their signatures on 'pre-written statements' as part of its move to misguide" the global community.

"The government is sending police to the families of the victims of enforced disappearance. They're writing statements on behalf of the government and asking the families to sign on those," BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told a human-chain programme.

In the pre-written statements, he said, "The members of the police are saying that my son or my husband has gone missing himself and asking the parents or wives of the victims to sign on it. This is how the government conspires to confuse the world conscience."

University Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (UTAB) arranged the programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding the release of Prof Tajmeri SA Islam, ex-teacher of Dhaka University's Chemistry department.

Rizvi said the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance are not signing on such statements and registering protests as they know how their near and dear ones have been subjected to enforced disappearance. "But how long will they be able to brave the threats of the police? "The government is trying to show the global community that those who were made disappeared went missing themselves."

He said such efforts of the government will go in vain as the global community knows how many people were subjected to enforced disappearance in Bangladesh.

The BNP leader also said the fall of the current government is looming and it will not be able to resist it.

"Your throne has started tumbling now. You put the last nail in the coffin of your government by sending a teacher like Tajmeri S Islam to jail," he said pointing at the Prime Minister.

Rizvi urged the government to release Tajmeri Islam immediately to avoid a fierce movement by professionals.

Uttara police arrested Prof Tajmeri on Thursday in a case filed over obstructing police from performing duties during an anti-government demonstration of the party in the capital's Uttara on September 23, 2018.

Later, she was sent to Kashimpur Central Jail as a court rejected her bail petition.