Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer and parliamentary opposition leader Dr Shafiqur Rahman MP called for the immediate recovery of people subjected to enforced disappearance and exemplary punishment for those involved. In a statement issued on Friday, 29 August, ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on 30 August, he urged the government to return missing people to their families safely.

Rahman said families of disappeared people continue to face trauma and humanitarian hardship while awaiting news of their relatives. He alleged that more than 700 people, including opposition political activists and people from various professions, were disappeared during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, citing what he described as reliable information from domestic and international rights organisations. He named several people who remain missing, including Jamaat leader Hafez Zakir Hossain, Ilias Ali and Chowdhury Alam.

He criticised proposed changes to the draft disappearance law, arguing that police should not investigate allegations commonly involving law-enforcement agencies. He also objected to excluding the National Human Rights Commission from related investigations and called for an independent legal framework, proper investigations and swift trials.