HRW's Asia Director Elaine Pearson writes about reforms in Bangladesh

Must work together for democracy and reforms

It is unfortunate that security agencies have been used in a manner that has generated more fear in people’s mind than confidence and faith in them.

Visiting US Assistant Secretary Donald Lu yesterday expressed satisfaction that Rab reduced extrajudicial killings since late 2021, when the US imposed sanctions on the force.

Numbers of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances have dropped drastically in Bangladesh since the US imposed sanctions on Rab and seven of its former and current officials for alleged human rights abuses, the Human Rights Watch observed in its annual report.

“We, the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance, have been leading a miserable life.

The US State Department in its annual human rights report for 2021 stated that there were reports of widespread impunity for security force abuses and corruption in Bangladesh.

Australia yesterday slapped travel and financial sanctions on five top Myanmar military officers, accused of overseeing brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims by units under their command, following similar moves by the European Union and United States.

Condemning the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in Bangladesh, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, yesterday called for an immediate halt to these serious human rights violations and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Teknaf upazila Awami League leaders would be called to Dhaka to discuss the killing of Akramul Haque with the prime minister after she returns from Canada, claimed a leader of the upazila AL.

Since the government launched the so-called “anti-drug drive” in early May, akin to the Philippines' “war on drugs”, more than one hundred people have been subjected to extrajudicial killings. Although the number and pace of these killings, described by the government as “gunfight”, have been staggering, extrajudicial killing is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh.

Ten eminent citizens yesterday called for an end to extrajudicial killings and urged the government to ensure judicial investigation into all the incidents of “shootouts”.

Diplomats, stationed in Dhaka, yesterday expressed deep concern over the "extrajudicial killings" in the ongoing nationwide anti-narcotics drive.

Bangladesh government took limited measures to investigate and prosecute cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced

A report in this newspaper yesterday has revealed that in the last 13 years, 1900 people have been victims of extrajudicial killings, of whom 800 died in police custody.

Doesn't the AL think that, in case of a democratic change of power, the same technique will be used against the AL men?

Security forces in Bangladesh are accused of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and secret detentions, including that of

A democratic polity venturing to maintain order by repression and criminality is actually creating ultimate disorder because in so doing it creates a link between social order and atrocities.

BNP demands judicial enquiry into the all extrajudicial killings including the death of a prime suspect in a case filed for attempting to murder a Madaripur teacher.

An alleged operative of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and two suspected hijackers have been killed in separate "gunfights" with law enforcers in Gaibandha and Dhaka.