FM Momen on US sanctions: It cannot be resolved overnight
United States will realize its mistake, hopes Dr AK Abdul Momen
File photo of Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen UNB
UNB
Publish : 01 Jan 2022, 09:43 AMUpdate : 01 Jan 2022, 09:48 AM
The issue of designated sanctions imposed on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its present and former officials cannot be resolved overnight as it will be done step by step, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Friday.
All the offices in the US are now closed due to Christmas holidays, he said.
"I hope the US will realize that its position on RAB is not correct. However, I don’t expect things to change overnight," Momen said while talking to the media after addressing a program in Kalighat, Sylhet in the evening.
The way they levelled the accusations against RAB, which is loved and trusted by the people of Bangladesh, is very unfortunate, he said.
The agency is, by and large, not involved in corruption, he continued, adding that RAB is an "effective agency."
Even the US government said RAB helped curb terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking in Bangladesh that were considered to be shared priorities with successive US administrations, Dr Momen mentioned.
A few RAB members who had abused their authority and committed excesses were brought to justice, he said.
When police kill someone in Bangladesh, it is called "extrajudicial killing" but when law enforcers do it in the US they term it dying "in the line of duty" and no head of the agency is punished, the minister said.
The US said 600 people disappeared from their homes in Bangladesh in the last 10 years, he added.
"However, every year 100,000 people go missing in the US, according to its official estimate. So, this is not a big deal there. But if the same thing happens in Bangladesh, they call it enforced disappearance," Momen said.
The US imposed human rights-related sanctions on individuals and RAB as an entity on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
FM Momen on US sanctions: It cannot be resolved overnight
The issue of designated sanctions imposed on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its present and former officials cannot be resolved overnight as it will be done step by step, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Friday.
All the offices in the US are now closed due to Christmas holidays, he said.
"I hope the US will realize that its position on RAB is not correct. However, I don’t expect things to change overnight," Momen said while talking to the media after addressing a program in Kalighat, Sylhet in the evening.
The way they levelled the accusations against RAB, which is loved and trusted by the people of Bangladesh, is very unfortunate, he said.
The agency is, by and large, not involved in corruption, he continued, adding that RAB is an "effective agency."
Even the US government said RAB helped curb terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking in Bangladesh that were considered to be shared priorities with successive US administrations, Dr Momen mentioned.
A few RAB members who had abused their authority and committed excesses were brought to justice, he said.
When police kill someone in Bangladesh, it is called "extrajudicial killing" but when law enforcers do it in the US they term it dying "in the line of duty" and no head of the agency is punished, the minister said.
The US said 600 people disappeared from their homes in Bangladesh in the last 10 years, he added.
"However, every year 100,000 people go missing in the US, according to its official estimate. So, this is not a big deal there. But if the same thing happens in Bangladesh, they call it enforced disappearance," Momen said.
The US imposed human rights-related sanctions on individuals and RAB as an entity on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
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