Unveiling Shadows: India's Alleged Role in Bangladesh Enforced Disappearances

A Bangladesh commission investigates India's alleged role in enforced disappearances during Sheikh Hasina's tenure. Notably, cases like Shukhranjan Bali and Salahuddin Ahmed highlight potential secret detainee exchanges. The commission urges government efforts to locate missing Bangladeshis possibly jailed in India and calls for abolition of the Rapid Action Battalion.

A recent investigation by a commission under Bangladesh's interim government has cast a spotlight on India's alleged involvement in enforced disappearances during the tenure of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to a report by the state-run news agency, BSS.

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance, led by retired Supreme Court judge Mainul Islam Chowdhury, revealed findings that suggest prisoners might still be held in Indian jails. The commission urged Bangladesh's Ministries of Foreign and Home Affairs to trace any such citizens.

Highlighting two high-profile cases, the commission cited the abductions of Shukhranjan Bali and BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed as indicative of cross-border detainee exchanges. It called for the disbandment of the Rapid Action Battalion, implicating it in the disappearances, and recommended reforms of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009.

(With inputs from agencies.)