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Thirteen years after three leaders of Jagannath University Chhatra Dal allegedly disappeared, their families are still waiting for answers: Are they alive or dead, and what happened to them?
The missing students—Asaduzzaman Rana, Mazharul Islam Russell and Al Amin—were allegedly picked up by a group of plainclothes men from an area under Vatara Police Station in Dhaka on December 4, 2013. They have not been traced since.
All three were students of the 2005-06 academic session at Jagannath University and served as joint general secretaries of its Chhatra Dal unit. Russell and Al Amin studied political science, while Rana was a philosophy student.
Their families believe they were abducted because of their political activities.
Russell’s sister, Nusrat Laboni, said the family has been living with the same uncertainty since 2013.
“We still do not know what happened to my brother. If he is no longer alive, we at least want to know how he died and where his body was taken,” she said.
Al Amin’s brother Ruhul Amin echoed the demand, saying the family wants to know what happened to him and, if he was killed, where he was buried.
Rana’s elder sister Minara Begum said the uncertainty was particularly painful because the family does not even know whether they should pray for his recovery or mourn his death.
Their former classmates and fellow activists have also demanded that the three missing students be traced and those responsible for their disappearance brought to justice.
JnU Chhatra Dal convener Mehedi Hasan Himel said the three were active in anti-authoritarian movements and that their families deserved answers.
University teachers also urged the authorities to investigate the disappearances and end the families’ 13-year wait for the truth.
Professor Imranul Haque, general secretary of the JnU Teachers’ Association, said the university community wanted to know what happened to the three former students.
Professor Nasir Uddin, treasurer of the association, described their prolonged disappearance as deeply distressing and called for the truth to be established and those responsible to face justice.