Another unexplained disappearance

It has come to light that yet another person has also gone missing following a string of high-profile disappearances that include NSU teacher Mubashar Hasan who went missing exactly a month ago. This time it's former Bangladesh ambassador to Vietnam Maroof Zaman who has remained traceless since Monday night after he left his Dhanmondi residence to pick his daughter from the airport. Reportedly, three men entered his home and took away his laptop, desktop and camera after Maroof Zaman called his house and told the house help to let them take his laptop that same night. At a time when the fate of many missing persons remains unknown, the mysterious disappearance of the ex-envoy following these suspicious circumstances only adds to the prevailing sense of fear among the public that anyone can go missing anytime and is a major blow to their sense of security.

While we know that there may be various reasons behind a person going missing, the manner in which law enforcement agencies have been handling these cases raises many questions. Families of the missing persons are left in the dark about the whereabouts of their loved ones months on end with no knowledge of the progress of the investigations. Eyewitness reports of plainclothes men entering the homes of some of these individuals prior to them going missing and the public perception that law enforcers are involved in some of these cases cannot be ignored.

Far too many cases of disappearances have occurred in the recent months and too many of them have remained unsolved for the citizenry to remain calm. There is a suppressed anxiety all around. The government must be more effective and launch vigorous investigations into these cases to find the missing persons. This abhorrent trend of people simply going "missing" cannot be allowed to continue.