Rizvi seeks justice

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Saturday called for impartial investigations and justice in every enforced disappearance case, saying no individual or institution should remain above the law.

Rizvi said the Bangladesh Nationalist Party firmly believed that uncovering the truth behind every enforced disappearance, conducting impartial and credible investigations and bringing those responsible to justice were essential conditions for establishing justice.

He made the remarks in a message issued ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, which will be observed today.

Expressing deep sympathy and solidarity with victims of enforced disappearance and their families, Rizvi called for truth, justice and accountability in every such case.

“BNP will stand beside them in the struggle to establish justice, human dignity and democratic rights,” he said.

Rizvi also paid profound respect to people subjected to enforced disappearance worldwide and those who became victims of such disappearances during years of state repression and authoritarian rule in Bangladesh.

He said enforced disappearance was not merely the act of making a person disappear from their family and society, but a brutal assault on human freedom, dignity, justice and the right to life.

“The unbearable pain of waiting year after year for a loved one to return, uncertainty about their fate and being deprived of the right to know the truth, no family should ever have to endure this,” Rizvi said.

He said enforced disappearance had been used as a dreadful tool of political repression and silencing dissent in Bangladesh’s recent history.

“Many people, including leaders and activists of opposition political parties, human rights defenders and dissenters, have fallen victim to it,” he said.

According to Rizvi, many families still did not know where their loved ones were, what condition they were in or whether they would ever return.

“Their prolonged wait remains a profound responsibility before our national conscience,” he said.
Rizvi also called for ensuring the rights of victims of enforced disappearance and their families to know the truth, receive justice, obtain compensation and receive proper rehabilitation.