'Hasina knew everything about the enforced disappearances': Speaker
Photo: Agamir Somoy
Although former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assured the families of disappeared individuals that their loved ones would be returned, she herself knew where they were being held, claimed National Parliament Speaker Major (retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram.
He made the allegation while speaking as the chief guest at a dialogue organized by Nagorik Samaj (civil society) at the Lalmohan Upazila Parishad auditorium in Bhola on Saturday (September 12) morning.
Hafiz Uddin Ahmad said that although the families of the disappeared were assured that their loved ones would be returned, Sheikh Hasina herself knew where they had been kept. By acting in this manner, he said, she had given a performance worthy of the world’s best actress.
The Speaker further said that many people were killed and forcibly disappeared during the Awami League government’s tenure. He said there were also incidents in which husbands and sons were taken away in front of their wives and mothers and later killed, with their bodies cut into pieces and thrown into rivers.
He said such incidents were emerging through the testimonies of relatives of those who were subjected to enforced disappearance and murder before the International Crimes Tribunal. Many parents are still waiting in the hope that their missing children will return, he said, although their children had actually been killed.
The Speaker alleged that during the Awami League government’s 17-year rule, members of the police at various levels subjected ordinary people to torture and repression. He claimed that the police had done so to please the government and get their own interests realised.
Referring to the 2024 mass uprising, he said Sheikh Hasina fled the country following the uprising. Many people, from the prime minister to peons and office attendants, also fled, he said. He added that the Chief Justice and the imam of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque had also fled.
The Speaker claimed that 687 police officers had sought shelter in the cantonment during the mass uprising.
The dialogue was chaired by Lalmohan Upazila BNP President Md. Zafar Iqbal. Upazila BNP General Secretary Shafiqul Islam Babul and other local leaders also spoke at the event.
