Abduction and disappearance

Abduction and disappearance have a different connotation for Bangladesh, particularly in the month of December, because the collaborators of the Pakistani army resorted to such vile acts in 1971 with the heinous motive of decimating the country of its talents and best minds. After 40 years, people thought they would not have to come across such macabre incidents in a free country. They were wrong. Today news of abduction, disappearance and recovery of unidentified bodies is making screaming headlines in the media. So screaming are the headlines that human rights organisations at home and abroad are taking note of the disquieting development. A Philippine-based right organisation, The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance has expressed its deep concern over the rising incidents of abduction and disappearance in Bangladesh. Sure enough, this country cannot and should not degrade itself to the position of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil of the right-wing dictatorial rule during the 1960s- 80s. In Argentina alone about 30,000 students, labour leaders, intellectuals and leftists disappeared or were held in secret jails and torture centres during what is dubbed the eight-year "Dirty War". Brazil too has a record of 400 abductions and presumed deaths during the dictatorship. Similar things happened in Bangladesh immediately after the coups and counter-coups in the early years of its independence. This country has left the military rule way behind and should naturally be expected to overcome any hangover of secret killings or political vendetta. Yet programmes like "Operation Clean Heart" or "Crossfire" casualties have continued. One thing is striking that crossfire killings are hardly heard of these days. And from the time crossfire stopped making news, the incidents of abduction and recovery of abducted people's or unidentified bodies started rising. Is there any link between these developments? It is highly disturbing that accusing fingers are being pointed to plain-clothes members of law-enforcement agencies. However, a few such incidents involving the death or killing of ordinary mortals engaged in small trades like selling of vegetables appear to be highly baffling. What political or even financial stake is there in kidnapping and killing such small fries? Recently bodies of three such vegetable vendors were recovered from a river and it is suspected that they had been killed before they were thrown into the river. In another such incident, fishermen from Barguna found seven bodies floating in the deep sea. Quite clearly, such acts are an alarming indication of deterioration of law and order, if not more. Now the onus is on the government to prove that it does not tolerate such vile acts. It needs to act fast and most decisively to bring the culprits -whether they are goons or plainclothes men of different law enforcement agencies - to justice and thus allow the examples to be an effective deterrent to further acts of abduction and killing.