As the world marks International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances today, 30 August, a day set aside to create awareness about enforced disappearance, we remember the many who got taken away and never found, leaving their families in constant agony and communities that are torn asunder. These represent not just numbers but a spiralling global crisis of human rights violation.
Disappearances amidst 2024 quota reform movement
A dreadful trend started to be witnessed in the country: with protests on the rise over quota reform, vocal students, activists, and even common supporters who were expressing their opinions about the quota reform movement loudly started to disappear. In the days and weeks following some of the largest protests, reports continued to emerge that several of the 2024 quota reform movement’s most high-profile voices had disappeared. Their families were put in a state of despair as many remained unaware of the whereabouts of their loved ones, or what transpired to them.
These went on to be some sinister echoes of the previous enforcements of disappearance in the recent history of Bangladesh, where the opposition voices and leaders were taken literally out of the public show. It went on to be a silence of the grave about the missing, as the families requested a response and answers. The very expectation of further disappearances paralyzed this participation for many and was forcing a recession of the movement from the public forefront.
Apart from the missing, reportedly more than 200 people were killed, along with more than 1000 casualties. As per as the Dhaka Tribune’s reports, at least 56 were buried unidentified during the movement.
Aynaghar, a symbol of fear and uncertainty
The term ‘Aynaghar’ gained a new meaning in the context of the 2024 quota reform movement. It was named Aynaghar because a detainee can’t see anyone except himself, like a mirror.
It proved to be a chilling metaphor for the disorientation and distortion surrounding the disappearances, a place that embodied the dislocation and confusion thrust upon the families of the missing. Aynaghar was the metaphor for being in limbo: an impossible maze of bureaucratic dead ends, misinformation, and fear.
In this hall of mirrors, the truth of the missing protestors kept eluding us, official statements kept on contradicting eyewitness accounts, and promises of investigations did not result in any concrete output. The Aynaghar is a psychological prison, one whose walls echo with another reflection of uncertainty for every single step taken parallel to it.
Among the many detained in Aynaghar, those releasef following the fall of prime minister Sheikh Hasina include:
- Mir Ahamed Bin Quasem Arman, a Bangladeshi barrister, Mir Ahamed was reportedly abducted from his own house in front of his family members in Mirpur, Dhaka on 9 August, 2016.
- Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, a former military general, Azmi was detained by plainclothes officers of Bangladesh Police on 24 August, 2016 from his house in Moghbazar, Dhaka.
- Michael Chakma, an ethnic minority rights activist, was abducted in 2019.
Commemorating the lost, demanding accountability
These stories of the missing ones must not go unheard on this World Disappearance Day. Though most of the missings during the quota reform movement of 2024 have returned to their families and dear ones; the fates of those still missing are not known, while their absences still echo within the struggle for justice and equity in Bangladesh.
Human rights groups have pressed for more accountability, urging Bangladesh’s government to investigate the disappearances and give answers to the families still waiting for their loved ones to return. It is not only about closure for the families but also how to safeguard democratic movements’ integrity, such as the 2024 quota reform protests.