Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday said the government would not bow down to any pressure over its ongoing anti-drug crackdown that has been marred by widespread allegations of human rights abuse.
"We won't bow down to any pressure... We only bow down to the public. The United Nations may observe the situation (and) it's their right. We have no question about it," he said while replying a query about any possible pressure from the UN over the anti-narcotics operation.
The drive will continue for an indefinite period, he hinted, according to UNB.
Obaidul, also general secretary of the ruling Awami League, was talking to reporters after emerging from a contract-signing ceremony of the Mass Rapid Transit Line-6 project at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a recent statement said that “they are closely following developments related to the anti-drug crackdown in Bangladesh.”
It also urged member states to adhere to their commitments "to promote balanced, human rights-based approaches to drug control".
However, asked about the death of Teknaf Municipality Councillor Ekramul Haque in a “gunfight” during the crackdown, Obaidul said: “Ekramul is a former president of the Teknaf chapter of Jubo League [the youth wing of Awami League]. If he is found innocent, then those listed him as a drug dealer will not be spared.”
Responding to a question about BNP's allegation that notorious drug lords associated with Awami League have already left the country with the aid of the government to escape the drive, he said: "At first, we have to find out whether the BNP has any narcotics godfather. If Abdur Rahman Bodi [an Awami League lawmaker from Cox's Bazar 4] is found guilty, then he won't be spared either."
Referring to a statement by a group of eminent personalities and writers expressing their concerns over the operation, he claimed that “people of the country are happy over this drive. Critics can create controversies, but we are not heeding them. We are doing our job."
On the night of May 26, Ekramul, an upazila-level leader of Awami League, was killed in a “shootout” with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar.
The elite paramilitary anti-crime taskforce claimed he had been involved in drug peddling.
However, refuting the claim, the deceased’s wife Ayesha Begum alleged that he was killed in cold blood, not in a gunfight as the RAB claimed.
She also provided the press with a total of four audio clips that recorded terrifying conversations between Ekramul and his family right before he died in a hail of bullets.