US sanctions on IGP, RAB DG nothing surprising: Fakhrul

PBC News:  BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has termed the US government’s sanctions on six former and present high officials of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was not a surprise.

“I think that the US government’s sanctions on six former and present high officials of RAB comes was not a surprise. I also consider it as a possible consequence. Those who take away people’s rights, those who kill people brutally and mercilessly, they will have to face consequences in such a way,” he said.

“We have been saying so long that gross human rights violations have been taking place in Bangladesh. We have been saying that this government is using the statecraft. They are killing people brutally using the police and administration. It has been proved today.”

Mirza Fakhrul made the remarks while speaking at a discussion organised by National People’s Party (NPP) at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday. The discussion titled “BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release, sending her abroad for treatment, and role of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman to the great War of Liberation.”

Mentioning about the democratic conference in the US capital Washington under the initiative of President Joe Biden, Mirza Fakhrul said Bangladesh was not invited at the democratic conference held on Friday. It has also been proved that the government has thrown the country into an utter shame. “Now, we want to see and know what steps this government are going to take against these individuals who have been involved in gross violation of human rights,” he said.

Mirza Fakhrul said: “What a shame for Bangladesh! The US government has slapped sanctions on our police chief, our RAB chief! But why? Because, you have violated the human rights. You have killed people brutally and unlawfully. So, you’ll have to answer to people about your misdeeds.”

With NPP Chairman Dr Fariduzzaman Farhad in the chair, the discussion was addressed by Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar) Chairman Mostofa Jamal Haider, Kalyan Party Chairman Major General (Retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, BNP Chairperson’s adviser Aman Ullah Aman, Abdus Salam, former DUCSU VP Nurul Huq Nur, among others.

It may be recalled that the US government on Friday imposed sanctions on six former and present high officials of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) over human rights abuses in Bangladesh.

The officials include former RAB director general (DG) and incumbent Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed and incumbent RAB DG Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, according to a press release issued by the US Department of Treasury on Friday.

The others are RAB Additional Director General (ADG-Operations) Khan Mohammad Azad, and former RAB ADGs of Operations Tofayel Mustafa Sorwar, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan and Miftah Uddin Ahmed,  former commanding officer of RAB Unit 7.

The US State Department linked Benazir, the current inspector general of Bangladesh Police, and Lieutenant Colonel Miftah Uddin Ahmed, former commanding officer of RAB Unit 7, to the “extrajudicial” killing of Akramul Haque, a councillor of Teknaf Municipality in Cox’s Bazar, during an anti-drugs operation in May 2018.

The US government also announced visa restrictions on Benazir, who served as RAB DG from January 2015 to April 2020, due to “his involvement in gross violations of human rights, making him ineligible for entry into the United States,” according to the statement.