DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters marched on Wednesday demanding information on hundreds of people they say security forces have abducted during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s nearly 15 years in power.

The government denies the allegations of disappearances and extrajudicial killings, saying some of those reported missing drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe.

National elections are due in Bangladesh by the end of January, but rights groups and foreign governments have long raised concerns over efforts by Hasina’s government to silence criticism and stamp out political dissent.

“I am not just afraid... every single day I wake up, I am absolutely terrified,” said Humam Quader Chowdhury, a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) official, claiming that he had been detained by security forces for seven months.

He told protesters in Dhaka that during his detention, he saw a senior official on TV deny he was in custody.

Opposition supporters of the BNP and its allies joined families of those missing to mark the Inter­national Day of the Victims of Enforced Disapp­earances, many with black gags over their mouths.

Ten-year-old Mariam Bushra held a photograph of her missing father, opposition activist and lawyer Ahmad Bin Quasem. “I want the return of my father,” she said.

Human Rights Watch said security forces committed “over 600 enforced disappearances” since Hasina came to power in 2009, and about 100 remain missing. The others were later released, produced in court or reported to have “died during an armed exchange with security forces”, HRW said.

“Bangladesh authorities are fooling nobody by continuing to deny the reality of enforced disappearances, and instead are prolonging the suffering of families,” Julia Bleckner, HRW’s senior Asia researcher, said on Wednesday.

Security forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists, killing hundreds in extrajudicial encounters and disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023