Want our fathers back

A decade has passed since  Hridi's father, Parvej Reza, the then president of Paltan Thana Chhatra Dal, went missing without a trace. Year after year, on the occasion of International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the 12-year old participates in various events, demanding the return of her father.

"I have been attending these events for as long as I can remember. I don't have many memories of him. I want my father back," she said yesterday holding a photograph of her father, her small hands gripping the frame tightly.

She was talking at a human chain organised by BNP  to commemorate the day in front of its Nayapaltan party office in Dhaka.

"I don't want to observe enforced disappearances day; I want to celebrate Father's Day with my father," she said in a trembling voice.

Photo: Prabir Das

She was not alone, family members of "missing" BNP and JCD leaders accompanied her.

Sadika Sarkar Safa, a second grader, was also among them. The daughter of missing JCD leader Mahfuzur Rahman Sohel, could not hold back tears as she spoke.

"My father has been missing for 10 years. I have grown up without my father's care since childhood. My only demand from the government is to bring my father back," said Safa.

She was only three months old when Sohel, joint general secretary of Bangshal Thana Chhatra Dal, went missing in 2013.

Amena Akhtar, wife of another missing JCD leader Firoz Khan, said her husband was allegedly  picked up by people identifying themselves as members of law enforcement agencies on August 24, 2012.

"For 11 years, I have been shuttling from one place to another, one road to another, to search for my husband. The government must answer what has been done to him."

She said she has been struggling to run her family.

"I sew clothes for a living," she said.

Leaders and activists chanted various anti-government slogans as they carried banners, festoons, and placards, demanding an end to enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and political persecution.

"Stop enforced disappearances, killings, crossfire," one placard read.

Presiding over the event, Amanullah Aman, convener of Dhaka North city unit of BNP, claimed that around 2,700 people disappeared as part of the government's crackdown against the opposition.

BNP Standing Committee Member Abdul Moyeen Khan, attending as the chief guest, said that those who protested against the current government had lost their husbands, fathers, and brothers.