A platform, called the Committee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights started its journey in 2013. Advocate Shahdeen Malik, Professor Asif Nazrul, Professor CR Abrar, controversial organization Odhikars Chief, Adilur Rahman and Barrister Sara Hossain are among the leaders of the committee.
The rights body basically started campaigns on issues like crossfire, police torture and enforced disappearances.
Its journey started mainly to spread false propaganda in the international arena against Awami League right before the 2014 elections and to cover up the post-election violence of BNP-Jamaat in 2014 and 2015. Although almost inactive throughout the current tenure of the Awami League government, they became active, again, right before the upcoming election.
The committee continued to coordinate the families of missing persons on a platform in a strategic way. Odhikar, its chief Adilur Rahman and rights activists brought families of missing persons together from across the country.
In 2014, allegedly missing Chatra Dal leader Sajedul Islam Shumons sister Sanjida Islam went to Geneva about her brother’s disappearance and filed a complaint there. Her visit was fully sponsored by the committee.
In the beginning, Mayer Dak started arranging programs with 80 to 82 families of missing persons, but within a few days, they just maintained contact with only 19 families of BNP and Jamaat activists.
The organization has been holding their programs regularly for a long time. However, no other families, apart from 19 BNP-Jamaat minded are connected with the platform anymore.
So, now Mayer Dak or Mothers Call has turned into BNP-Jamaater Daak or BNP-Jamaats Call.
The wife of Mir Qasim Ali, who was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity in 1971, always attends the programs. One of the members of this committee is Barrister Sara Hossain whose father is Dr Kamal Hossain. Dr Kamal was the leader of the BNP-Jamaat alliance in the 2018 parliamentary election. Adilur Rahman’s Odhikar is controversial as it published a fake list of disappearances to pressurize the government after the incident on 5th May 2013.
Because of Mayer Dak’s close ties with the Committee and BNP-Jamaat, other families are no longer connected with the platform. They are also now aware of the ill motive and want to keep their distance from its agenda.
List of the disappeared people whose families are the only ones connected with Mayer Dak.
Md. Salim Reza Pintu: Three unidentified men in plain clothes abducted former Chhatra Dal president and businessman by profession, Pintu in Dhaka in 2014. He remains traceless though no government forces detained him. In 2012-13, he took part in the arson and violence by BNP. Besides, there were several cases against him, including murder, vandalism and arson.
Sajedul Islam Sumon and others: In 2015, unidentified men impersonating RAB members picked up six people from Dhaka. Among them, Sajedul Islam Sumon was the general secretary of BNP’s Dhaka 38 number ward committee. Despite facing several cases, none was serious enough to warrant arrest by the RAB. While RAB does not know their traces, their families claim that law enforcement agencies have detained them. Md. Asaduzzaman Rana Babu, Al Amin, Mohammad Abdul Quader Bhuiyan Masum are among the persons who went missing with Sajedul.
Md Kawsar Hossain, AM Adnan Chowdhury: Unidentified people using RAB identity allegedly picked up two men from Dhaka in 2013. These two men seemed to have contact with the above six people. According to sources, the political conflict centering on the formation of BNP’s local committees might lead to their disappearances.
Nurul Amin: A group of people using the identity of police and Ansar picked him up from Lakshmipur on March 29, 2015. Though he was not politically active, he had a conflict with the relatives over the family property. Many think such conflict might cause his disappearance.
Sohel Rana: A group of men impersonating law enforcement agency members allegedly picked him up from Dhaka on February 10, 2015. He was known to be actively involved in violence and sabotage on behalf of the BNP and Jamaat-Shibir. He had also a long-standing dispute with a local BNP leader over spreading supremacy at the local level. His political insiders believe that he might be abducted for such reason though his family blames law enforcement agencies for his disappearance.
Md Hossain Chanchal, Parvez Hossain, Zahirul Islam: The relatives of these BNP activists claim that a group of unidentified men, in disguise as DB members, picked them up from Dhaka on December 2, 2013. But, the law enforcement agencies confirmed that no government agency had arrested them.
Samrat Mollah, and Khaled Hassan: These two BNP activists were in Dhaka jail over different cases. On November 28, 2013, they walked free from jail, and their party supporters were supposed to welcome them at the jail gate. But instead, unknown people using the name of DB picked them up in a car.
Ismail Hossain: Businessman Ismail Hossain was once the leader of the Nationalist Democratic Party. He was accused of murder but later acquitted due to lack of evidence. It is believed that he went missing from Dhaka on June 19, 2019, due to personal conflicts.
Iftekhar Ahmed Dinar, Junaid Ahmed: Iftekhar and Junaid went missing from the Gulshan area of Dhaka on April 2, 2012. Junaid was the joint general secretary of Chhatra Dal’s Sylhet metropolitan unit. Both BNP and their families blamed law enforcement agencies for their disappearances, but the government there has no clue about arrests by law enforcers.
