Hasina gone, but fate of Bangladesh’s forcibly disappeared uncertain

Only three of more than 150 persons who went missing during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule have been reunited with their families.

Dhaka, Bangladesh – For Michael Chakma, a Bangladeshi Indigenous rights activist, each day of his five-year detention in a secret prison allegedly run by the country’s military intelligence was harrowing and filled with unending despair.

“There was no window and I had no way to tell time, or whether it was day or night. I was in a dark, enclosed space, and when the light was turned on, it was too bright for me to see properly,” the 45-year-old told Al Jazeera. “Most of the time, I was handcuffed and shackled.”

Chakma was among more than 700 persons, including top opposition figures and activists, who were forcibly disappeared by Bangladeshi authorities during the 15-year “autocratic” regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from January 2009 and June 2024, according to Odhikar, a prominent NGO.

Of these, 83 victims were later found dead, with some reportedly killed in “crossfire” with security forces, while more than 150 individuals remain missing.

Hasina was forced to resign and flee to neighbouring India in July after millions of Bangladeshis, led by university students, launched a nationwide movement to demand her ouster.

An interim government, led by the country’s only Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has since taken over and, on August 29, formed a five-member commission, headed by a former high court judge, to probe the disappearances.

Chakma was picked up by armed men near capital Dhaka in April 2019 allegedly for his criticism of the Hasina government’s policy on the Chakmas, the largest among Bangladesh’s Indigenous groups, who mainly live in the so-called Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in