Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has described the sanctioning of elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its several serving and former senior officials by the United States government as very regrettable and questioned the authenticity of the US findings.
“This is very regrettable. Some NGOs and human rights groups seem to have complained,” he told journalists after attending a program in the capital on Saturday.
The US Department of Treasury and Department of State sanctioned RAB as an entity and several of its serving and former senior officials for alleged serious human rights abuses.
“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,” said the foreign minister, adding that US findings should be based on information.
He claimed that in US every year, 600,000 people disappeared, but the government was unaware about the reason behind their disappearance.
“No head of authority is punished over there for the disappearance of 600,000 people,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said, around 1,000 people are killed each year by the police in the US in the line of duty but no heads of agencies are punished.
Dr Momen said: “Now there is a new thing which is to sanction the head of an institution. These are efforts to show off. Some people disappear in every country. This is regrettable.”
“Mature state like the US takes some steps that are immature. Their steps were not good in many countries, not even for the people of the US,” he said.
The minister further said: “On many occasions, countries governments of which do well are attacked. There is a problem when you work well. On different pretexts, they have destroyed countries people of which were satisfied. If you do well, many do various things out of jealousy.”
Momen said the people of the country have much confidence in the “disciplined” force RAB as they played a role in making the country free from terrorists.
He said it will depend on the United States whether there will be any impact on Dhaka-Washington relations in light of the sanctions.
On the summoning of the US ambassador in Dhaka, the foreign minister said: “We have called the US envoy. My foreign secretary held discussions (with the ambassador). He (the ambassador) was somewhat surprised at what has happened.”
The United States on Friday imposed human rights-related sanctions on Benazir Ahmed, current inspector general of the Bangladesh Police and former director general (DG) of RAB, and six other officials of the elite force on the occasion of Human Rights Day.
The US Department of State announced visa restrictions on Benazir, which it says, due to his “involvement in gross violations of human rights” making him ineligible for entry into the United States.
RAB as an entity, Benazir, incumbent RAB DG Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and the five others were designated by the Department of the Treasury under the Global Magnitsky sanctions programme in connection with serious human rights abuse, said the US Department of State.