Members of Rapid Action Battalion

The Bangladeshi government is failing to keep its commitment to end extrajudicial killings, torture and other abuses by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and hold those responsible accountable, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report today. Brad Adams, the Director (Asia) of HRW said, after two years in office, the government has had more than enough time to take action to stop the RAB’s murderous practices. A death squad is roaming the streets of Bangladesh and the government does not appear to be doing anything to stop it. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina needs to act.

The 53-page report, “‘Crossfire’: Continued Human Rights Abuses by Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion” documents abuses by RAB in and around Dhaka, the capital, under the current Awami League-led government. Nearly 200 people have been killed in RAB operations since January 6, 2009, when the government assumed office. While in opposition the Awami League promised to end extrajudicial killings, but since it came to office senior government officials have denied that RAB has committed abuses, and some have even justified them.

The report builds on the 2006 Human Rights Watch report, “Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Torture and Extrajudicial Killings by Bangladesh’s Elite Security Force.” It is based on over 80 interviews with victims, witnesses, human rights defenders, journalists, law enforcement officials, lawyers, and judges.

Although the government has made many commitments to end the killings and to punish perpetrators, no RAB officer or official has ever been prosecuted for a “crossfire” killing or other human rights abuse. “Crossfire” is a blanket term used to justify most of the unit’s killings.

The government should either make major steps towards RAB accountability and reform in the next six months or disband it, Human Rights Watch said. Donors such as the US, United Kingdom, and Australia should immediately withdraw all assistance and cooperation until and unless dramatic improvements take place.

RAB was formed in March 2004 as a composite force comprising members from the military -army, air force, and navy – the police, and members of Bangladesh’s other law enforcement groups. Members are assigned from their parent organizations, to which they return after serving with the unit. RAB operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is commanded by an officer not below the rank of deputy inspector general of the police or the equivalent military rank. The unit is regarded as an elite counter terrorism force and indeed has targeted, apart from criminal suspects, alleged members of militant Islamist or left-wing groups.

In often standardized press statements, the unit claims that criminals were shot and killed in “crossfire” after they or their accomplices opened fire on RAB. Investigations by Human Rights Watch and Bangladeshi human rights organizations have found, however, that many victims have been executed while in the unit’s custody. Bodies of those killed have often carried marks indicating that they had been tortured. Many people who survived periods in the unit’s custody have alleged that they were tortured there.

In one recent case, on March 3, RAB personnel in civilian clothes picked up Rasal Ahmed Bhutto while he was minding a friend’s shop in Dhaka. Bhutto’s brother-in-law, Gulam Mustafa, told Human Rights Watch that one of their relatives in the army was able to contact colleagues in RAB and extract a promise that Bhutto would not be killed in “crossfire.” However, on March 10, Gulam Mustafa said, Bhutto was brought to the area where he lived in a vehicle belonging to the unit and was shot and killed. RAB summoned journalists to show the body of an alleged criminal killed in crossfire.

“They brought him and committed cold-blooded murder,” Mustafa told Human Rights Watch.

Members of the Awami League were victims of RAB while in opposition, and senior party officials contended that it engaged in politically motivated killings. But the impunity the unit has enjoyed since it was established continues under the Awami League government.

Echoing their predecessors in the BNP-led government, the home minister and other government representatives deny any wrongdoing by the unit and other law enforcement agencies. Instead, they cling to the fiction that all of those killed were shot by authorities acting in self defense.

In March 2009, for example, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told Human Rights Watch that the government had no intention of investigating allegations of past human rights abuses by security forces, even though the perpetrators remained in the unit’s ranks and would be likely to continue their illegal methods. Ahmed said that even though he did not condone “crossfire” killings, it should be remembered that RAB had only killed “criminals.” In May 2010, despite numerous reports by human rights groups, the minister said that, “No more crossfire incidents are taking place in the country.”

Home Minister Sahara Khatun, whose ministry supervises the unit, said in January 2011 in response to allegations of rising extrajudicial executions: “Many people are talking and will talk about this. But as the home minister, I am saying that the law enforcers’ task is to bring the criminals to the book.” When asked about allegations by Human Rights Watch on continuing extrajudicial killings, she said: “What will the law enforcers do – save themselves or die – when criminals open fire on them.”

Port and Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has said that crossfire killings are not human rights violations and that such killings have helped to bring extortion and other crimes under control.

Disappointingly, the government has not renounced any of these comments, Human Rights Watch said. Awami League officials have consistently argued that they do not need to root out abusers because they could exercise effective political control over the battalion, a claim that is belied by the evidence during the government’s more than two years in office.

In a worrying development, RAB has recently begun to carry out enforced disappearances. Bangladeshi human rights groups say that it has started killing people without acknowledging any role in their deaths.

Human Rights Watch said that after seven years of widespread abuses and more than 700 deaths, if the unit’s human rights record does not improve dramatically within the next six months and abusers are not prosecuted, the Bangladeshi government should disband it. In its place the government should create a new unit within the police or a new institution that puts human rights at its core to lead the fight against serious and organized crime and terrorism. Neither RAB nor any new force created should draw its forces from the military, which has a different operating culture than a civilian police force, Human Rights Watch said.

The US, UK, and Australia should insist that the Bangladesh government follow through on its commitments and ensure that there are prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into torture and deaths in the custody of the unit, Human Rights Watch said.

“Instead of an elite law enforcement unit designed to control crime and terrorism, RAB has become a deadly law breaker,” said Adams. “It is now fair to ask whether the government has any intention of addressing this scourge.”

Selected Testimony from the Report

“I asked them how much money they got to kill my son and told them that they could kill me in crossfire as well. One RAB officer then grabbed my neck and said, ‘Get out of here, bitch. If you don’t shut up, people here will kill you.’ I asked him what he was doing there and if it was not his job to protect me. He then calmed down, asked me to leave and said that I could collect Pappu’s body at Mitford hospital.” -Mother of Azad Hussein Pappu, killed by RAB on February 28, 2010

“The media was already there and RAB kept saying that Bhutto had been caught in a special operation. I started shouting at them, saying maybe Bhutto had done some bad things but where is the rule of law, how dare RAB kill Bhutto. The RAB officers just stared at me and said nothing, which frightened me. And then although some people supported me, a local Awami League leader came out and started raising slogans saying that Bhutto was a criminal anyway… RAB then took the body away for the autopsy. When I went to collect the body, I saw that there was only one bullet inside his ear. The police made me sign a blank sheet of paper. I didn’t want to do it but then I just gave in.”- Gulam Mustafa, recounts the scene at the killing of a close relative.

I was blindfolded and my hands were tied. I was forced to sit down. Four men in civilian clothes beat my legs with sugar cane stalks, while a man in RAB uniform sat on a chair watching. My legs were swollen like pillows. – Baby Akhtar recounts her torture by RAB.

The fourth and fifth topic of Twitter‘s world trend list is now about Egypt and Mubarak. People of this world have discovered the power of Social Media in last few weeks. From Tunisia the revolution of social media has reached to Egypt and peaceful revolution is now complete by stepping down of President Hosni Mubarak.
According to media report, Mubarak’s administration tried to restrict the use of social media site like Twitter. I have read this in a blog where the blogger also wrote about the ways to get access of Twitter even when Mubarak’s administration was not allowing that.

As I was feeling unwell today, I passed almost the morning and noon at my house. But I was reading reports in different sites at online. After my lunch, I received a phone call from my Chief Reporter. What he had told me was sad as information but good for news. The report of 70 deaths really deserves lead news at the print edition of any newspaper. He asked me to collect more information like passport numbers and address from Foreign Ministry as the accident was in Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The council said in its verdict, the news reports were baseless. The Press Council also rebuked the newspaper management for publishing those. But the newspaper then published reports against the chairman and the memebers of the Press Council. Sheersha Kagoj claimed in its report that the council gave the verdict in favor of the complainant in exchange for “favors.”
The customs officer later filed another case with the Press Council.
The council in its recent judgment said the newspaper violated the code of conduct of journalism by publishing unacceptable reports.

Ending a two-day technical meeting at Dhaka, representatives of all eight-member states of SAARC okayed the draft prepared by Bangladesh.

“To shield the democracies in the region from extra-constitutional takeovers is a major recommendation laid down in the draft charter,” Foreign Secretary Mhamed. Mijarul Quayes told reporters after the meeting.

Foreign secretary told that the proposed charter would strengthen the SAARC process in future as development and democratic governance were closely linked.

“Today, we have built an excellent foundation of democratic commitment in the South Asian region. We have adopted a clean draft of the charter on democracy,” Quayes, who chaired the meet, told journalists at Sheraton Hotel.

“The draft will uphold SAARC’s spirit of protecting and strengthening democracy at the national and regional levels”.

He, however, declined to divulge further details saying that it would go through meetings of SAARC foreign secretaries, foreign ministers and finally the head of the states or governments.

“At present, democratically elected governments are in place in all member states. If we don’t talk about strengthening democracy now, when will we?” the secretary questioned.

Issues such as military takeover, human rights, freedom, secularism and other relevant matters came up for discussion, said the secretary.

Sufiur Rahamn, Director General (SAARC) of Foreign Ministry, said SAARC was created with the aim of improving the quality of lives of the people in the South Asian region.

“Democracy and development are closely linked,” he said justifying the move of inserting the charter of democracy.

Bangladesh proposed inserting the charter on democracy to bring an end to unconstitutional governments in SAARC member states at the 16th SAARC summit in Thimphu.

The member states at the summit requested Bangladesh to host a technical meeting on the issue. Ealier, Dhaka sent a draft of the charter on democracy to the members through the SAARC secretariat.

The Foreign Secretary says that the finalized charter will be tabled at the Secretary level meeting, which will be held on November. The charter will also be tabled at the SAARC Ministerial meeting on next December. The Final approval may come from the 17th SAARC Summit, which will be held on April.

A 2-day Inter-Governmental meeting to deliberate on the idea of the SAARC Charter of Democracy begins in Dhaka today (Saturday). Representatives that include parliamentarians, High Commissioners, high officials from all eight SAARC member states are attending the meeting.

According to the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh, the leaders, during the 16th summit while appreciating that all the member states had evolved into multi-party democracies, underlined the challenge faced by them in ensuring an effective, efficient, transparent and accountable governments. In this regard, they emphasized the need for regional cooperation to strengthen good governance. As per decision of the summit, Bangladesh circulated the concept paper on SAARC Charter of Democracy and convened the Inter-Governmental meeting.

Recognizing the inherent link between democracy and development, the member states expressed their commitment to have a SAARC Charter of Democracy, which will strengthen democratic institutions and process, promote practice of democracy at all levels of government and society and promote the rule of law.

The meeting is examining broad principles on democracy for inclusion in regionally agreed document. It is also examining how SAARC member states, people’s representatives and civil society can work toward strengthening democracy and democratic practice in South Asia, and respond in case of departures from democratic norms and processes.

Vietnam and Laos is on also ranked the 5th position for most unsafe internet usage. According to the survey report, Turkey is the most dangerous and west African state Namibia the safest country for internet use.

Among the most dangerous states for internet usage, one out of every 10 internet users in Turkey gets infected online, followed by Russia (with one in 15 risk), Armenia (with one in 24 risk) and Azerbaijan (with one in 39 risk).

US and Pakistan tied with a one in 48 risk of online users getting attacked, the data revealed while the UK, Australia and Germany- all fared a little better with a respective 1:63, 1:75, and 1:83 risk on online attack.

Furthermore, as per the AVG statistics, the five ‘safest’ countries are Namibia, Togo, Japan, Niger and Sierra Leone.

The AVG data – based on the statistics tracked from over 100 million PCs from the last week of July – shows that global web users face one in 73 chances, on average, of being attacked online on any given day. Researchers compiled data in 144 different countries and ranked the ‘safest’ and the ‘most dangerous’ destinations for going online.

‘People do not write letters’, said one of my colleagues who are In-charge of the readers’ letters section. He was very frustrated at the beginning of our new newspaper as readers’ response was low. He was not a supporter of publishing readers’ letters every day.

But a simple announcement changed the scenario. I proposed for online communication with the readers. That means, we will receive readers’ letter as e-mail. Even we have started a weekly program where our readers can express their opinions by using their phones. We have engaged some of our colleagues who write their opinions.

At the first day, the response of our readers were so out standing that we were in trouble to manage all of those with in two pages. It is just the beginning. Now we ask readers’ opinion at every weekend. Response is very good. We believe that it helps to increase the number of our readers. Because those who give their opinions, eagerly wait to see that at print and online version. Even they call if their opinions are not published.

Now I want to say another thing. We have offered several quiz contests for world cup football beside our regular quizzes. There also offer attractive prizes. Everyday our staffs at the reception corner of our office saw many letters. There were some big boxes in front of the office just to receive answers of the quizzes. We had to change those with in hours. The response was huge.

We were in a discussion to understand-why do our readers answers quizzes but do not write letters? One answer is incentive. Although the process of writing letter is quite critical, the readers responded for prizes.
The people who generally write letters for readers’ corner or editorial page they generally write about their problems and expectations.

As we have offered receiving letters at online the number of writers have increased. However, as many people can write in English and cannot write in Bangla at computer, they generally write Bangla pronunciation by using English alphabet. That is quite problematic. Because we have no option to convert those messages. We just rewrite those.

But we are hopeful that in future they will write by using correct fonts and writing styles.