With the US sanctioning the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for ‘human rights abuse’, Law Minister Anisul Haque has said that that there have been no incident of extrajudicial killing in Bangladesh.
His remarks came on Sunday, a day after the elite police unit and its seven former and current senior officials were sanctioned by the State Department and the Treasury Department, making their entry to the US ineligible.
Responding to queries from reporters after attending an event in Dhaka, the law minister described the allegations of human rights abuse against RAB as “fictitious”.
“As far as I know, those who have been sanctioned did not get a chance to explain themselves. I want to make it clear that the allegations again RAB and other organizations are fictitious,” he said.
In response to another query, Huq said, “There has been no extrajudicial killing in the country.”
FILE PHOTO: Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq addresses a press briefing at his Gulshan residence in Dhaka on Friday, October 25, 2019 Focus BanglaOn Friday, the US announced that it has imposed sanction on RAB and its seven officials, including its former chief Benazir Ahmed, who is now the inspector general of Bangladesh Police.
The incumbent RAB Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun has also been sanctioned.
The others are RAB Additional Director General (ADG-Operations) Khan Mohammad Azad, and former RAB ADGs (Operations) Tofayel Mustafa Sorwar, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan, and former commanding officer of RAB Unit 7 Miftah Uddin Ahmed.
The US State Department linked Benazir and Miftah to the “extrajudicial” killing of Ekramul Haque, a councillor of Teknaf Municipality in Cox’s Bazar, during an anti-drugs operation in May 2018.
The foreign ministry on Saturday summoned US Ambassador Earl Miller to convey Dhaka’s discontent with the sanctions.
Foreign Secretary Momen expressed Bangladesh’s disappointment at the fact that the decision was taken unilaterally by the US Administration without any prior consultation with the government of Bangladesh, the ministry said in a statement.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen described the sanctions as “very regrettable” and questioned the authenticity of the US findings.
Dubbed as an elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is composed of members of the police, armed forces, and border guards, seconded to it from their respective units Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune“They (US) said that RAB had killed 600 people in last ten years. But, we do not have information as to whom they (RAB) killed. They (US) just say what they like,” he told the media after attending an event in Dhaka the same day.
Turning down the allegations of human rights abuse against RAB, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said every incident of human rights violation is investigated properly and legal action is taken accordingly.
“The US has not imposed the sanctions neutrally. They did it based on exaggerated news. Maintaining law and order is a challenging task in Bangladesh,” he told reporters in Dhaka on Saturday.
In a reaction to the sanctions, the RAB said it exists to protect human rights and does not violate them.
“Our 9,000-member force exists to protect human rights. We have so far lost the lives of 28 members. In order to uphold law and order as well as in the protection of human rights, more than 1,000 of our members have been maimed while 2,000 of our members have sustained injuries,” its spokesperson Commander Khandaker Al Moin has said.