Missing man's family seeks PM's intervention

Requested by journalists, 15-year-old Meghla Mehnaz moved from the podium and joined her relatives in the audience to pose for photographs.

She held a poster, containing a man's photo, accompanied by the request: "Find him".

Though it was all conspicuous, a photojournalist asked her who the man was.

"Father," replied Meghla, who has grown accustomed to such questions recently.

Clad in a black dress, she walked back to the podium and sat beside her 12-year-old brother Shahi Fardin and their mother Ambia Khatun.

With her children, Ambia came to Jatiya Press Club to seek prime minister's intervention in finding her husband who disappeared from Paltan around 5:20pm on February 18.

Ambia cited threats consistently made by Nasirul Islam Mallik alias Pintu, Abdus Salam, Abdur Rahim and Rani Babu against her husband Majedur Rashid Majed, a businessman, who had recently intervened in the committee to manage the Fakirapul mosque.  

Reports published in the newspapers the day after his disappearance identified Pintu as loyal to Awami League, Salam and Rani to BNP, and Rahim to Jatiya Party. Majed drew their wrath after he replaced Salam as the overseer of the mosque's properties on January 21.

"Salam had forcibly taken the charge of mosque management when BNP came to power after 2000," said Ambia.

The remaining three were not directly involved with the committee but were friends of Salam.

The mosque, situated on a land of 19 decimals, generates Tk 10-12 lakh a month through the 44 shops set up on its premises to bear the maintenance expenses, she said.      

Majed intervened last year after the mosque's water tank collapsed, killing two pedestrians, exposing to the residents the negligence in managing the mosque, Ambia said.

Majed owned a business of garment accessories and was not involved with the management body before, though his ancestors donated the mosque land, claimed the family.

But police initially denied Ambia her right to seek legal protection and justice by refusing to accept a case over his disappearance until the media brought it to light.

They finally recorded it three days into Majed's disappearance, but dropped four names from the letter of complaint submitted by Ambia.

The Daily Star has a copy of the letter.

At the news conference, Ambia was desperate to make the point that her husband was not involved in politics, at a time when the political turmoil is marked by disappearances allegedly at the hands of law enforcers for containing violence.

Some innocents reportedly have fallen victims to this move due to enmity.

"...I swear, my husband had never been involved in politics," Ambia wrote in the statement given to journalists during the conference.

The case investigator, Mominul Islam, sub-inspector at Paltan Model Police Station, defended police, saying the complainant was not confident about accusing the four.

Nevertheless, the case was transferred to detectives for investigation yesterday, taking into account the names of the four, he said.

In an air-conditioned VIP room, next to the one where the family sweated to hold the conference, a protest of pro-BNP cultural group Jatiyatabadi Sangskritik Jote was underway. They vowed to uphold democracy and prevent injustice, but uttered not a word relating to disappearances.