BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed on Friday said their party will eradicate the culture of enforced disappearances if the party returns to power with people’s mandate in the upcoming national election.

Speaking at a discussion meeting organised by 'Mayer Dak' at the Bangla Academy auditorium to mark International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Salahuddin said, “If people give us their mandate, everything necessary will be done to prevent enforced disappearances – from enacting laws to ensuring their implementation. We are waiting for that Bangladesh where no one will fall victim to enforced disappearance.”

The BNP leader alleged that the country has long endured “a horrific situation” under an authoritarian regime. 

“Those who turned Bangladesh into a fiefdom through killings still show no remorse. Far from admitting their crimes, they brand others as culprits,” he said.

On the election roadmap, he warned against attempts to divide opposition forces. “The people have struggled and shed blood for 16 years to restore their right to vote. Now that a path has been created, let us not scatter thorns along it."

Recalling his own ordeal after being picked up in 2015, Salahuddin said he had been confined in a small, suffocating cell for 61 days. 

“I am fortunate to be alive today. Otherwise, I too would have been just a photograph like many of my colleagues who never returned,” he said.

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He described how he was kept in a filthy five-by-ten-foot room with no ventilation, often blindfolded, and at times told he might be moved to another place without the certainty of survival. 

“I prayed to Allah that if I die there, my body be returned to my family. I did not see Allah with my eyes, but I felt His presence,” he added.

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Salahuddin mentioned with relief that no new families of victims had joined this year’s commemoration.

“They hope future politicians will ensure that no one ever has to attend such an event again. That is why we continue our struggle,” he said.