Proposal for independent investigation not logical: State minister for foreign affairs

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged the government to form an independent and specialised mechanism to investigate the allegations of incidents of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. But the proposal to set up any such independent and specialised mechanism is not logical, remarked state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam.

The state minister said this while addressing a media briefing at the ministry on Tuesday.

“If there was no such mechanism within the departments, then why legal actions have been taken against more than 400 officials of RAB (Rapid Action Battalion)? Why actions have been taken against more than 1000 policemen including its officials? Conducting investigation by some other people of the same department will not be logical - I don’t find any logic in it,” said Shahriar Alam.

He further said, “If you go outside of this, do you think I would conduct investigation by civic societies? Then they would say that those murders took place at the leadership of Shahriar Alam. They are ready to write such reports.”

The media briefing was regarding Michelle Bachelet’s recent visit to Bangladesh. There he also said, “We think the visit was surely successful. The objects, with which in mind we invited her, were fulfilled. Some people’s masks were removed. We hope they (some people) would give up their effort and stop from misleading the international friends for nothing.”

The state minister alleged that out of some ulterior motives, some local and international organisations and with them BNP and Jamaat lobbyists provide misinformation against the government continuously.

Mentioning the meeting between the representatives of civic bodies and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Shahriar said one of them (representatives of civic bodies) made some specific demands to compel the government to perform in the coming (12th) Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) elections. She (Michelle Bachelet) clearly said that what would be the system of polls-time government, how the election would held – these are not the responsibilities of the UN High Commission for Human Rights.

The government has been denying the allegations of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh from the very beginning. It has told the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that people go ‘missing’ in Bangladesh for three reasons. Firstly, to escape punishment after getting involved in crimes committed against the state; secondly, if someone incurs loss in business; and thirdly, for familial reasons.

Michelle Bachelet held a meeting with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan at the secretariat on 14 August afternoon. At the time, those three reasons were mentioned in a video presentation displayed on behalf of the ministry before her.

Earlier, in February, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen at a discussion in the capital city remarked that many of the people mentioned in the list, the UN provided the government, have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea.