By Azad Majumder
Dhaka, July 22 (EFE).- A Bangladesh student leader recounted Monday how he was abducted, tortured, and left unconscious on a Dhaka street by men claiming to be police.
They wanted to force Nahid Islam, one of the top leaders driving the student agitation, to call off protests against the government’s controversial job quota, which sparked deadly unrest and brought the country to a standstill for days.
Sharing his harrowing encounter with a group of journalists, including from EFE in Dhaka, Islam, a sociology student at Dhaka University, described how the government launched a harsh crackdown on students amid a strict curfew, forcing him to hide at a friend’s place in the capital.
On Friday night, a group of men identifying themselves as police officers burst into the friend’s house. Sensing danger, he moved to the roof to escape as the country boiled in a vicious cycle of violence, with police using lethal force to quell the agitation.
Islam told EFE that his abductors found him and insisted he go with them. They packed him into their car with three to four cars parked along, possibly belonging to police or paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh.
He was “blind folded and handcuffed” with the car moving for about 30 to 40 minutes before halting at an unknown place where he was interrogated.
“Why we are doing this (the protests)? What is our purpose? Why we were not withdrawing the protests? Who are behind this movement,” he said, recalling his conversation with his interrogators.
His replies did not satisfy them. “They started beating me, subjected me to physical and mental torture, hit me with something like an iron rod, and I became unconscious.”
Meanwhile, his family desperately searched for him, visiting police stations in the capital, but officers denied knowing anything about his whereabouts.
Early Sunday morning, he woke up on a street east of Dhaka. Regaining some consciousness, he rented a three-wheeler to reach home before being hospitalized.
His ordeal continued at the hospital. When journalists visited him for interviews, authorities pressured him to leave, citing safety concerns. “The hospital canceled my admission,” he said, noting he had to seek treatment in unsafe conditions.
As the situation in Bangladesh remains tense and uncertain, the government has not released any data on the number of dead and injured in clashes with police. The whereabouts of those missing or allegedly arrested remain unknown.
Islam said many of his fellow activists and protest coordinators are still missing. “In Bangladesh, the human rights situation has collapsed gravely. People cannot enjoy their basic rights. They cannot speak freely.”
The protesting students are demanding the reform of the public employment quota system, justice for the victims of the police crackdown, and the resignation of those responsible. They also call on the government to restore internet access and reopen university campuses.
“Without the improvement of the situation, no move is possible,” Islam said. “We feel unsafe and fear for our lives.”
EFE has not been able to contact Bangladeshi authorities for their version of events. However, these accounts match the complaints of other human rights organizations warning of increased repression against protesters in Bangladesh.
The internet shutdown across the country has prevented access to information, phone calls, and text messages. Digital and print media have been out of service for days, and only television channels linked to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government are operating.
The protests escalated last Monday, with the first deaths reported the following day. Communications were suspended on Thursday night, just before what became the deadliest day of the unrest, when 44 deaths were reported on Friday, according to hospital sources, with an overall death toll surpassing 120.
Prime Minister Hasina summarily rejected the demands, calling protesters “razakar,” a political slur referring to renegades or traitors of the independence movement of Bangladesh then part of Pakistan.
Her remarks fuelled the fire as situation worsened. The government imposed a curfew at midnight on Friday, relaxing it briefly on Monday.
On Sunday, the Supreme Court watered down the quota system, allowing 93 percent of jobs to be available for the general merit category, with only 5 percent reserved for relatives of freedom fighters.
An earlier court order had permitted the government to allocate one-third of public sector jobs to the families of freedom fighters.
This change addresses the main demand of the students, who halted the agitation for 48 hours on Monday. EFE
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