HRW report incorrect: Shahara
Dhaka, Jan 24 (UNB) - Home Minister Shahara Khatun on Tuesday said the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report is not correct and claimed that the law-enforcing agencies are not involved in any incidents of enforced disappearance.
“The law-enforcing agencies are working to protect all...they’re not working for enforced disappearances,” she told reporters at a press conference at the Secretariat.
State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku was also present at the press conference held after a meeting of Smuggling Protection Committee of the Home Ministry.
On Monday, the New York-based rights watchdog in its report said the practice of disguising extrajudicial killings as ‘crossfire’ killings seeped from the RAB into other law enforcement institutions, particularly the police.
“New allegations of torture, arbitrary arrest, and enforced disappearances by police continue to emerge.”
Addressing the press conference, Shahara said the government has been investigating killings and the incidents of disappearance. “The government also wants to know who are actually involved in such incidents.”
Tuku claimed that killings along the border have marked a fall compared to the past and Bangladesh and India will sit in a meeting to stop border killings.
The HRW in its World Report 2012 said the government in Bangladesh has failed to use its significant parliamentary mandate in 2011 to push through policies to ensure strong protections of human rights.
It also said the Bangladesh government has failed to properly investigate tortures in custody and extrajudicial killings and prosecute the perpetrators during 2011.
“Instead of prosecuting the members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), who engage in extrajudicial killings, the home minister chose to deny that such violations occur, even in cases where internal ministry investigations found evidence of wrongdoing,” said the report.
Quoting Odhikar, a Dhaka-based rights organisation, the report said at least 12 people died in custody due to police torture in 2011 and most deaths in custody are never investigated.
The report also criticised the government for its failure to ensure fair trial of the accused of 2009 Pilkhana mutiny and carnage.
“The law-enforcing agencies are working to protect all...they’re not working for enforced disappearances,” she told reporters at a press conference at the Secretariat.
State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku was also present at the press conference held after a meeting of Smuggling Protection Committee of the Home Ministry.
On Monday, the New York-based rights watchdog in its report said the practice of disguising extrajudicial killings as ‘crossfire’ killings seeped from the RAB into other law enforcement institutions, particularly the police.
“New allegations of torture, arbitrary arrest, and enforced disappearances by police continue to emerge.”
Addressing the press conference, Shahara said the government has been investigating killings and the incidents of disappearance. “The government also wants to know who are actually involved in such incidents.”
Tuku claimed that killings along the border have marked a fall compared to the past and Bangladesh and India will sit in a meeting to stop border killings.
The HRW in its World Report 2012 said the government in Bangladesh has failed to use its significant parliamentary mandate in 2011 to push through policies to ensure strong protections of human rights.
It also said the Bangladesh government has failed to properly investigate tortures in custody and extrajudicial killings and prosecute the perpetrators during 2011.
“Instead of prosecuting the members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), who engage in extrajudicial killings, the home minister chose to deny that such violations occur, even in cases where internal ministry investigations found evidence of wrongdoing,” said the report.
Quoting Odhikar, a Dhaka-based rights organisation, the report said at least 12 people died in custody due to police torture in 2011 and most deaths in custody are never investigated.
The report also criticised the government for its failure to ensure fair trial of the accused of 2009 Pilkhana mutiny and carnage.
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