DHAKA, Bangladesh
Bangladesh's government is under increasing pressure to reveal the location of a senior opposition leader who has been missing for more than a week.
The family and neighbors of Salahuddin Ahmed, joint-secretary of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, claim he was arrested on March 10, but the government and police have repeatedly denied knowledge of his whereabouts.
In a statement released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch called for a "credible and independent investigation" into Ahmed's disappearance and claimed it was part of a pattern of disappearances.
“Unfortunately, the denial of any involvement by the Bangladesh government, and its refusal to take meaningful action to investigate, is also part of the same pattern of behavior," Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, said.
"The Bangladesh government has a history of failing to investigate the enforced disappearance of opposition members,” Adams added.
Interviews with neighbors reported in the English-language daily New Age suggested that Ahmed was taken away by men claiming to be from the Detective Branch of Dhaka police.
Ahmed's wife Hasina Ahmed told reporters Tuesday that she would request Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s assistance in finding her husband.
“My husband has been traceless for the last eight days. We’re spending our days in deep anxiety," Hasina Ahmed said. “Produce my husband before court and try him if he has committed an offence,” she added.
In a press briefing last Friday, opposition leader Khaleda Zia demanded Ahmed's release, as well as that of other detained opposition leaders, as one of the conditions for her party to end its almost three-month long anti-government campaign.
In an editorial published Monday, the English-language daily Financial Express wrote: "We want to see an end to forced disappearances, extra judicial killings and torture in custody. If a person goes missing in thin air, safety and security in a democratic society cannot be ensured."
Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi premier has accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party itself of hiding the missing politician.
This is not the first time an opposition figure has gone missing in Bangladesh. In 2012, Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Illyas Ali also went missing and to date his whereabouts remain unknown.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party began imposing a nationwide transport blockade and nationwide shutdowns on Jan. 5, to mark the first anniversary of controversial parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the main opposition alliance.
More than 120 people have died during the crippling political unrest, mostly in petrol bomb attacks on vehicles defying the blockade.
