Dhaka (Dec 06, 2016) : 4 YouthsThree university students and a friend of theirs have gone missing from Dhaka city. The disappearance has prompted police to investigate whether they are involved in militant activities.
According to their families and the police, the youths have been missing since 1 December (Thursday) after they reportedly met at a restaurant in Banani of the city.
This disappearance gave rise to speculations as quite a number of young men went missing before the 1 July attack on Holy Artisan restaurant, the deadliest militant attack in the country's history, that killed 22 people.
However, their families claimed that these young men have not been involved in any suspicious activities and they hardly follow any religious rituals other than the weekly Friday prayers.
Aged between 20 and 25 years, the missing four are Shafayet Hossain, Zain Hossain Khan (Pavel), Mehedi Howladar and Sujan. Shafayet and Zain are students of North South University. Mehedi studies at Barisal BM College. And Sujan works at a private company, having completed an IT course from Daffodil University.
Two general diaries (GD) were filed with the Banani police station about their disappearance, said the police.
According to investigating officer Sohel Rana, the four were last seen at Northern Café near Banani market on 1 December. Their mobile phones remain switched off since then.
A number of young men had gone missing between December last year and March this year. Afterward, on 1 July, the country witnessed the Holy Artisan attack in Gulshan and the youths reportedly involved in the attack belonged to the group of missing youths.
Many of those youths were killed later during raids by the police and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
Seeking anonymity, a number of police officers said, age, social status, educational qualifications, and the pattern of missing of the four are similar to those who disappeared ahead of the Gulshan attack.
They police said they are investigating the matter “quite seriously”.
Security analyst, Air Commodore (retired) Isfaque Ilahi told Prothom Alo that a detailed investigation is required to understand the situation. “Where they would go, who they would hang out with the company were — everything should be found out. Parents may not know everything about their children,” he said. “We have to pay more attention to our children.”
