From Darkness to Freedom: The Story of Mir Ahmad Quasem Arman
When the guards stormed into his cell before dawn, Mir Ahmad Quasem Arman braced himself for the worst. After enduring eight agonizing years in a windowless underground prison, where darkness reigned supreme and the concept of time had faded, he believed this was the moment of his reckoning. The guards ordered him to complete his prayer, then abruptly removed the thick blindfold that had shrouded his eyes for so long. They replaced the metal handcuffs that had become a part of him with cloth bindings, a decision that left him contemplating the chilling implications — if he were to vanish, there would be no evidence to trace back to his captors.
They then forced him into the back of a minivan, where he was concealed beneath the weight of two men, the chill of anxiety creeping through him. As the vehicle sped away, he was struck by the unnerving silence that enveloped him. The journey lasted an hour, and as the minivan came to a halt, Mr. Arman was unceremoniously dumped in a desolate field on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
As he emerged from his ordeal, he was bewildered by the transformed landscape around him — new highway overpasses loomed overhead, and a recently inaugurated subway system snaked through the city. However, the most significant change remained unbeknownst to him: Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister who had maintained a ruthless grip on power and harbored vengeful intentions for the past 15 years, had fled the country amidst a wave of protests that stormed her residence.
With her departure on August 5, a glimmer of hope emerged for Mr. Arman and two other men who had long been imprisoned in secrecy. Their reappearance marked a profound shift in the political landscape of Bangladesh.
Once a carefree and plump-cheeked lawyer, Mr. Arman had been snatched away by paramilitary forces in 2016. His disappearance had no basis in law; rather, it seemed to be a punishment for his father’s legacy as an Islamist activist and influential businessman. Reflecting on the lost years, he lamented, “I will never get that time back, to watch my daughters grow up.”