Saifur's comment on human rights
I am astonished to read the report, in your issue of March 17th, that Finance Minister Saifur Rahman resents that "donors and the press consider the deaths in 'crossfire and encounters' as human rights violation". "Only killers are taken to encounters", he insists. Apparently Mr. Saifur Rahman believes that the accused killers, even though not convicted in a court of law, are not entitled to human rights, and that their deaths are not the result of human rights violations. He seems to be confirming that these so-called "crossfire" deaths are deliberate, and then attempting to justify them. Two wrongs, in his view, make a right.
I wonder if Mr. Saifur Rahman recalls that the convicted killers of Bangabandhu, many of whom have been sentenced to death in a court of law, are still languishing in prison, being accorded their full recourse to the Law and the appeals process. No "crossfire" or "encounter" has befallen these gentlemen, although, in Mr. Rahman's view, they should not be entitled to any human rights.
There seems to be a serious inconsistency in Mr. Saifur Rahman's views.
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