Human rights groups in Bangladesh report that at least 28 people have been killed in the name of gunfight or crossfire in Bangladesh since the death of retired army major Sinha Muhammad Rashed Khan a little over a year ago in police firing at a check-post in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong on July 31, 2020. 15 people, including 12 policemen, have been prosecuted for this crime.
Gunfights and crossfires had ceased for a year but have now made a comeback involving the police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Border Guard Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh government utilizes the infamous Digital Security Act (DSA), a ruthless, arbitrary tool which administers cruel and unusual sentences and punishments to anyone exercising free speech. The DSA has been described by international organizations as “controversial” and “draconian”. According to Amnesty International, Bangladesh is holding 433 prisoners under the Digital Security Act (DSA) as of July 11, 2021. At the same time in 2020, the number of prisoners was 358.
There is an alarming and increasing number of people being detained under the guise of the DSA under charges which do not adhere to international standards of human rights.
Amnesty International also states that the majority of the people detained under the allegations of “publishing false and offensive information.” There are other people being held under allegations of “online defamation” and of “deteriorating law and order”.
The international community within Bangladesh and foreign governments were very vocal about the detention of writer Mushtaq Ahmed and his eventual death under police custody, after having been severely tortured.
What needs to be very clearly communicated to the international community and media is that the tragic case of Mushaq Ahmed is not an isolated one. Nor is the shooting of Major Sinha under the guise of “random crossfires and gunfights”.
None of the human rights atrocities which are every day occurrences in Bangladesh are “random”.
According to Human Rights Watch, “from January 1, 2009 to July 31, 2020, at least 572 have been reported forcibly disappeared by security forces and law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh”. Some of these people were released, But some were killed by security forces in the infamous “crossfires” and some have simply disappeared without any trace.
It is customary for international human rights groups to provide these reports to the Bangladesh authorities, pleading for humane policies deserving of the title of a “People’s Republic of Bangladesh”. This exercise proves futile because requesting the perpetrators to investigate their own crimes and alter their inhuman and vicious policies to humane ones is simply unrealistic, to say the least.
It is this time for human rights defenders to also make concerted efforts to appeal to the international community and foreign governments to earnestly hold the government of Bangladesh accountable for its human rights violations. President Biden has clearly stated that human rights and democracy are to play key roles in his administration globally. We have witnessed the Biden administration’s blatant dissatisfaction with India’s human rights record.
With this in mind, The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) strives towards bringing to the forefront the atrocities committed by the Bangladesh authorities on its citizens to the United States State Department and the United States Congressional Foreign Relations Committees which focus on South Asia.
*CHRD Bangladesh Human Rights report.
August 13. 2021
