In recent years, Bangladesh has seen many activists go missing. Yet what all the families of the forcibly disappeared get in response from the authorities is 'silence'. The people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts can't still erase the horrifying abduction of indigenous rights activist Kalpana Chakma from their memories. The family of Kalpana, even after 25 long years of abduction, still await answers. As do the relatives of Michael Chakma.
Like Kalpana, Michael was also an indigenous rights activist who campaigned against military abuses in the CHT. In the afternoon of 9th April in 2019, he left his home for an organizational event saying that he would be back around 10 p.m. This is 2021 and his family still waits for his return.
His family believes that he didn’t merely go missing. He was forcibly disappeared. According to Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization conducting research and advocacy on human rights, the ruling government of Bangladesh ignored appeals from Michael's family. Not only that, the government also ignored inquiries from the High Court, the National Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Committee against Torture.
On May 21 of 2019, in response to a writ petition by Michael’s sister, the High Court ordered the Home ministry to submit a report within five weeks. But it was the end of the year and still no investigation had begun. There was even no response except for the Inspector General of Police reportedly stating that they could not find anybody named Michael Chakma in any prisons in Bangladesh.
This case of Michael can be compared with the 1996 case of Kalpana Chakma. Police in 2018 said that they found only initial proof of her abduction. Irony is 39 officers were assigned to investigate that case and still there's no sign of Kalpana. This shows an unmitigated failure to identify the culprits and recovering the abducted victims still remains unlikely. The cries of the victims' families still makes the hilly air heavy.
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