Nation traumatised by Farhad Mazhars abduction: BNP
The BNP yesterday alleged that incidents of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and abductions have risen astronomically.
The incidents of enforced disappearances, abductions, illegal detentions, and extra-judicial killings are increasing astronomically in the country following the return of the Awami League to power in 2009, said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters, he claimed that the entire country has been gripped by what he said prehistoric inhumanity.
Referring to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), he called for an international investigation by the United Nations into peoples safety and security in Bangladesh.
There is no alternative to carrying out an international investigation on the HRW report on the survival of the Bangladeshi people and to ensure their security and justice, he said.
Rizvi compared the governments actions to keeping people detained in a cage covered with thorns.
People in each and every habitation and home are passing their lives amidst deep apprehension of being killed, abducted, made victims of enforced disappearance, going missing or detained without trial, he added.
He alleged that very large numbers of people, including Opposition political leaders, writers, poets, litterateurs, human rights activists and workers leaders were being harassed and many of them were being held in secret places for years.
Among them, bodies of some of them have been found in canals, land, rivers, ditches, and next to roads, while the fate of many others was still unknown, he lamented.
The BNP leader said the entire nation has been traumatised by the recent abduction of poet Farhad Mazhar. This trauma has not only affected Farhad Mazhar, but all citizens, he added.
He accused the government and the law enforcement agencies of making contradictory statements so as to make the incident of Farhad Mazhars abduction appear to be an act by terrorists. However, people suspected the government of trying to hide the truth about the abduction by staging a drama, he added.
BNP chairpersons adviser Abdus Salam, joint secretary-general Khairul Kabir Khokan and leader Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anie, were present on the occasion, among others.
