Mistakenly on list not once but twice

The Rab's revised list of “missing” people contained two photographs in serial no-3 against the name of Dr Arafat Hossain Tusher. The first photograph, as stated in the list, is his older photo while the second one is his current portrait.

The elite force published the updated list of 68 “missing” people yesterday. But the photograph it used in the list as Arafat's older photo is actually the picture of an A-level student from the city's Mohakhali.

“Our son had never gone missing,” Abul Kalam Azad, father of the youth, told The Daily Star.

His family members claimed that the Rab made the mistake twice.

According to the new list, Arafat, son of late Maj Wasiqur Ahmed of Gulshan, went missing on November 5, 2014. He was seen praising the Gulshan café attack in a video released online a few days after the bloody terror attack.

The Rab's first list, released on July 20, of 261 “missing” people contained the same two photographs in serial no-191 against Dr Arafat Hossain Tusher. Seeing the photograph in the media, the family contacted Rab officials and told everything about the youth.

According to the family members, Rab at that time assured them of correcting the mistake in the next updated list. But that was not to be.

Yesterday, the father, a businessman by profession, phoned The Daily Star office after seeing his son's photograph in the updated list.

“You cannot imagine the trauma we all are in since the release of the Rab's first list. Our boy got mentally devastated,” he said.

“The same mistake has been committed in the second list. We got phone calls from relatives,” he added.

The young student just took some A-level exams and would sit for a few more subjects in the next session. “But now he has confined himself at home. Is it possible to visit our relatives and clarify the mistake?” questioned a family member.

Asked about the proof for their claim, the family sent several photographs to this correspondent over the phone, showing the youth holding a copy of yesterday's newspaper.

Contacted, Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of Rab's legal and media wing, said they already asked people to inform them if anyone on the list returned home or didn't go missing at all.

“Upon receiving information, we would verify it and definitely make a correction in the list,” he said.