The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in Bangladesh has released its final report, and the findings are damning. The document implicates current Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman in the systematic disappearance of citizens under the previous government.
This is Bangladesh's post-revolution accountability test. The army chief who helped facilitate the transition of power after Sheikh Hasina's ouster now stands accused of participating in the very repression that sparked the uprising.
A billion people aren't a statistic - they're a billion stories. For the families of the disappeared - mothers who don't know if their sons are alive, children who haven't seen their fathers in years - this report is validation. Their loved ones didn't just vanish. They were taken.
The findings
The Commission's report, published on the government portal coied.portal.gov.bd, documents a pattern of enforced disappearances under the Sheikh Hasina government that ruled Bangladesh from 2009 until mass protests forced her from power in 2024.
Enforced disappearance - when security forces take someone into custody and then deny holding them - became a tool of political repression. Opposition activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens critical of the government would be picked up by plainclothes operatives. Their families would search hospitals, police stations, and military facilities. Officials would deny any knowledge.
Sometimes the disappeared would reappear weeks or months later, often bearing signs of torture. Sometimes they would be formally arrested and charged. Sometimes their bodies would turn up. And sometimes they would never be seen again.
The Commission now names names, including that of General Waker-Uz-Zaman, who was serving in senior military positions during the period when many disappearances occurred.
The army chief's role
General Waker-Uz-Zaman became a national figure in 2024 when he played a crucial role in the transition after mass protests toppled Sheikh Hasina. Many Bangladeshis viewed him as a stabilizing force, someone who helped prevent a violent power struggle.
Now that image is complicated. The Commission's findings suggest he was part of the system that carried out disappearances - the very repression that fueled the uprising he later helped manage.
This puts Bangladesh's interim government in an impossible position. Waker-Uz-Zaman is not just Army Chief; he's a key power broker in the post-Hasina transition. Removing him could destabilize the military. Keeping him undermines the accountability process that the revolution demanded.
For the families of the disappeared, there's no acceptable compromise. Their loved ones were taken by the state. They want justice, not political calculations.
The disappeared
The Commission has documented hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance. Each one is a person, a family, a life destroyed by state violence.
Michael Chakma, a tribal rights activist, disappeared in 2010. His wife spent years searching for him, filing habeas corpus petitions, pleading with officials. She never found him.
Hummam Quader Chowdhury, son of a hanged opposition politician, disappeared in 2013. He reappeared months later in official custody, charged with crimes he says he didn't commit.
These are the lucky ones - the families who got answers, even terrible ones. Many families still don't know what happened to their loved ones. They live in limbo, unable to mourn, unable to move on, waiting for information that may never come.
A woman who lost her husband to enforced disappearance in 2015, speaking to journalists in Dhaka, described the anguish: "They took him from our home at night. My children saw them take him. The police said they didn't have him. The army said they didn't have him. Everyone said they didn't know. But someone took him. Someone knows where he is. And no one will tell us."
That's the cruelty of enforced disappearance - it's designed to leave no evidence, no accountability, no closure.
Bangladesh's accountability dilemma
Bangladesh now faces the same challenge that has confronted every post-authoritarian society: how do you hold the security forces accountable when you still need them to maintain order?
The interim government came to power promising justice for the victims of the Hasina regime. The Commission's report is part of that process - documenting what happened, naming the perpetrators, establishing a record.
But documentation is not justice. Justice would mean prosecutions, trials, convictions. It would mean removing implicated officers from positions of power. It would mean compensation for victims' families and institutional reforms to prevent future abuses.
And it would mean holding General Waker-Uz-Zaman accountable if the evidence supports the Commission's findings.
The alternative is impunity - the same impunity that allowed the disappearances to continue for years, that made security forces believe they could take people without consequences.
Impunity doesn't bring stability. It breeds resentment, erodes trust in institutions, and guarantees that the cycle of abuse will continue under the next government.
170 million people watching
A billion people aren't a statistic - they're a billion stories. Bangladesh's 170 million people are watching to see if their revolution will deliver justice or just swap one set of rulers for another.
The families of the disappeared are watching. The young activists who risked their lives in the streets are watching. The ordinary citizens who want to believe their country can be better are watching.
The Commission's report is a test. Not the only test Bangladesh faces, but an important one. It asks: will the new Bangladesh be a place where security forces answer for their crimes? Or will power continue to protect power, leaving the victims to grieve in silence?
For the families who have waited years for answers - who have searched prisons and morgues, filed petitions and begged officials, refused to give up hope even when everyone told them to - this report is the first step. But it's only the first step.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Bangladesh's disappeared have waited long enough.
