ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
By Emran Hossain
The silence maintained by victims of enforced disappearances on their return has been described by psychologists as eloquent testimony of chilling fears instilled in them through physical or mental torture or both.
Their silence might not be deliberate refusal to share or disclose their experience rather they could be too scared to speak about it, said psychologists.
‘Enforced disappearance causes severe fear of uncertainty not only among the victims but also in those who come to know about it,’ said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University psychiatry professor MA Salam.
Salam was among six psychologists and psychiatrists who agreed to share their views on the issue of enforced disappearances after Utpal Das, reporter of an online newspaper, was fortunate enough to return to his family after disappearing since October 10.
Utpal returned on December 20. Two days later Mubashar Hasan Caesar, a private university teacher missing since November 7, returned to home on Friday.
According to rights organisation Odhikar, 408 individuals were victims of enforced disappearances between January 2009 and November 2017. Many of them did not yet return while bodies of some were found dumped. Very few returned home following periods of disappearances.
In photos newspapers published of the returned victims, they looked completely disoriented, though they refused to share their experiences.
Utpal and Caesar preferred not to talk about their days under enforced disappearance just like the others who too were lucky enough to return to their family alive.
About the period they remained traceless, they would only tell that they were confined in an unknown place after they were picked up by unknown people.
What they were saying was in no way different from the brief narratives of the other victims.
Under the circumstances New Age wanted to learn from psychologists and psychiatrists about what might be going on in the minds of the victims. Only six who were approached agreed to talk about it. Though contacted, six other psychologists and psychiatrists did not agree to share their views on the issue.
‘It’s not unlikely that no victim could recall their traumatic experience of psychological and or physical torture,’ said National Institute of Mental Health Psychotherapy professor Mohit Kamal.
In certain stages of trauma the brain gets locked, he said.
‘Trauma lingers in the victims’ psychology for decades besides causing physical problems for them,’ said Mohit.
Referring to his own study on freedom fighters he did 27 years after the Liberation War, Mohit said that even those who witnessed cruelty might suffer trauma for decades.
‘Continuing enforced disappearances could,’ he said, ‘engulf the whole nation with the sense of insecurity.’
Dhaka University clinical psychology professor Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman said that anxiety, depression and apathy generated by fear could discourage people from participating in any activity unless it was essential.
‘This can in no way be good for the nation,’ said Mahmudur Rahman.
Psychiatrist Salam said that trust could be banished from a society living in fear.
‘It’s the duty of the state to ensure security of all the citizens,’ he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment