No case filed over BNP leader Ayub’s disappearance, crossfire killing

During the fascist Awami government, he was first forcibly disappeared, and five days later his death was confirmed in a “crossfire,” with the body handed over to his family. The police administration of the time did not allow announcements over loudspeakers for his funeral prayers, yet hundreds of people still attended. He was Mr. Ayub Ali, BNP leader from Bochaganj upazila in Dinajpur, a victim of enforced disappearance and killing under the fascist Awami government. He was a former councillor of Ward No. 7 of the municipality and was then president of Ward 7 BNP.

No case could be filed over the incident at the time, and none of the party’s leaders or activists stood by the family. While cases have been filed at the International Crimes Tribunal for the recovery of those forcibly disappeared and held in “Aynaghar” and for the killing of activists of various parties after 5 August, no one has raised their voice about the enforced disappearance and killing of Dinajpur BNP leader Mr. Ayub Ali. His widow, the helpless Ms. Anwara Begum, has pleaded with local leaders and activists but has received no remedy.

His widow, Ms. Anwara Begum, said with regret that everyone in Bochaganj, across all classes and professions, knows that her husband was involved with BNP, and that, fearing his popularity, he was killed in a staged “gun battle” five days after his arrest — yet this matter was never raised with the government locally, and still has not been.

On Wednesday, 12 February 2020, at around 10:45 PM, then-SI Sukumar and ASI Sohel of Bochaganj Police Station came to the home of Mr. Ayub Ali — former councillor of Ward 7 of Setabganj municipality in Bochaganj upazila, Dinajpur, and then-president of Ward 7 BNP — and told him the OC wanted him to come to the station to talk. His wife, Ms. Anwara Begum, former commissioner of Setabganj municipality, followed behind and arrived at the station.

SI Sukumar told Ms. Anwara Begum that the OC sir was outside and would speak with her husband once he arrived, telling her not to worry, and that they would drop her husband home after the OC spoke with him. Ms. Anwara Begum then bought her husband two paan and waited outside the station gate. Shortly after, the OC’s car and a white Dinajpur DB (Detective Branch) microbus entered the station, and Mr. Ayub Ali was immediately put into that microbus and taken toward Dinajpur by DB police. At that point, Ms. Anwara Begum asked the then-OC where her husband was being taken. The OC of Bochaganj Police Station told Ayub Ali’s wife, “What nonsense are you talking? Ayub Ali never came to the station, nor did we bring him here. We don’t know where your husband is.” Ms. Anwara Begum then held a press conference with the Dinajpur Journalists’ Union alleging that the administration had forcibly disappeared her husband, but still could not locate him.

Five days after the administration forcibly disappeared Mr. Ayub Ali, on the night of 18 February, he was brutally killed in a so-called “gun battle” in the Rampur Shalbagan area of Bochaganj upazila, branded as a notorious drug dealer and criminal. After his killing, the police administration did not even allow loudspeaker announcements for his funeral prayers, sparking widespread public resentment at the time. Despite administrative obstruction, hundreds of people attended his funeral at the Setabganj Railway Eidgah ground, many in tears. For unknown reasons, BNP made no statement at the time, either while he was disappeared or after he was killed.

Regarding this, BNP leader Mr. Ayub Ali’s widow, Ms. Anwara Begum, said her husband was taken from their home and brutally killed in a so-called “gun battle” for the crime of being involved with BNP, and that her husband and children were subsequently implicated one after another in false cases. Yet the very BNP for which her husband was killed, or any of its leaders or activists, has never stood by her to this day. She said she hopes BNP will stand by her in the future and that she will get justice for her husband’s killing.