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Jamaat-e-Islami leader AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad has admitted to making an inadvertent error after facing widespread criticism over his claim that 512 people had been subjected to enforced disappearance during the BNP government’s first six months.
Azad, coordinator of the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat and its assistant secretary general, made the claim at a press briefing on Sunday.
The statement drew criticism on social media and in political circles.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Azad said he had mistakenly used the term “enforced disappearance” instead of “abduction” while presenting statistics on attacks, cases, repression, abductions and killings during the government’s first six months.
He described the mistake as an unintentional “slip of tongue” and urged everyone not to be misled by the statement.
Azad said he had actually intended to refer to 512 cases of abduction, citing a Prothom Alo report published on August 19.
He also claimed that the figure was based on a report from the police headquarters.
The statement sparked criticism from BNP leaders, who described the original claim as false and baseless.
Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra, meanwhile, reportedly recorded only one allegation of enforced disappearance during the BNP government’s first six months.
The controversy has also drawn criticism from other political quarters, with some calling for action against Azad over what they described as the dissemination of misinformation.
