Al Mukaddas Law Student and Chhatra Shibir activist (Jamaat-e-Islami Student Wing).
Al Mukkaddas’ uncle, Mohammad Abdul Hai, said that Al Mukaddas and Mohammad Wali Ullah had been staying in Dhaka at their friend’s home and were meant to return in the evening of February 4, 2012, but did not turn up. Hai said that on February 6, 2012, at around 3 p.m., Al Mukaddas’ younger sister called him to say that she was worried because Al Mukaddas’ cell phone was switched off and that he wasn’t at university or at home.
Hai went to the Paltan Police Station to file a general diary (GD) and called Al Mukaddas’ friends to see if they knew where he was. Al Mukaddas’ friend told him that he had talked to Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah the evening of February 4 and they had told him that they were taking the Hanif Enterprise Bus departing from Kolyanpur for Kushtia at 11:30 p.m.1 Hai then went to Darus Salam Police Station to file another GD where he met Wali Ullah’s brother, Khalid Saif Ullah. Saif Ullah said that at around 3 p.m. on February 5, 2012, one of Wali Ullah’s classmates from the Islamic University called to tell him that Wali Ullah’s phone was switched off and that he had not returned from Dhaka. Both Saif Ullah and Hai lodged a GD at the Darus Salam Police Station.2
The two men then went to the Hanif Enterprise Bus counter where the bus supervisor told them that indeed Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah had boarded bus number 3750 at 11:30 p.m. from Kolyanpur bus stand heading to Kushtia. However, when the bus reached Nobinagar, Savar, sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m., when the bus was stopped in traffic, a white microbus arrived and seven or eight men got out, wearing what he believed were Detective Branch (DB) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) uniforms. Some of the men boarded the bus and forced Wali Ullah and Al Mukaddas out of their seats.3 The bus supervisor said he asked where they were taking his passengers and that one of the men in DB uniform replied that there were charges filed against the two and that they would be released after interrogation.4
Hai and Saif Ullah then went to the Ashulia Police Station and filed another GD, then went to the RAB-4 office to inquire about their family members’ whereabouts. Hai said that the duty officer at RAB-4 told them to go to Nobinagar Camp, but when they reached Nobinagar Camp, the RAB officer there told them that nobody had been arrested on February 4.
On February 10, 2012, Hai held a press conference demanding that Al Mukaddas and Wali Ullah be returned. On February 12, 2012, he filed a habeas corpus writ petition in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. 5 The High Court ordered that the Secretary of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Inspector General of Police, Director General of RAB, and the Deputy Commissioner of the DB produce both men in the court within three weeks or give an explanation. Despite court orders, there has been no progress on the case.
Al Mukaddas and Mohammad Wali Ullah are still missing.
1Odhikar, “Fact Finding Report: Two persons were disappeared after being arrested at Savar allegedly by RAB-1 and DB-2 police,” 2012, http://odhikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Dhaka-Fact-Finding-Report-2012.pdf (accessed April 6, 2021).
2 GD No. 317, February 6, 2012.
3 Human rights defender interview with Mohammad Abdul Hai, March 2012.
4 Seats C-1 and C-2, AHRC report according to Abdul Hai’s recollection from his communication with Sumon Mia.
5 Writ No. 1535 / 2012.
