DUTA slams US Ambassador for ‘contradictory’ behaviour

Dhaka University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has criticised US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas’ acceptance of a request from ‘Mayer Daak’ and his visit to the house of a person, who had disappeared in 2013, terming the incident as biased and politically motivated.

In a statement on Thursday, DUTA said that the way the US envoy is trying to fulfill the interests of a vested quarter is worrisome.

Terming the US diplomat’s behaviour contradictory, it said that he went to the house of a disappeared person, but didn’t hear what ‘Mayer Kanna’, an organisation seeking justice for those who were killed and had disappeared during the regime of Ziaur Rahman, had to say.

“This type of dual standard has saddened us,” the statement read.

DUTA also came down heavily on other foreign diplomats, saying that their comments on the internal affairs of Bangladesh are obscene and against diplomatic norms and etiquettes.

“Countries like the US and the UK regularly tell us to improve our human rights situation, while it’s them, who have been providing shelter to the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the martyred intellectuals. We demand clear answers from them when they talk about human rights in Bangladesh,” according to the statement.

Professor Md. Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan, general secretary of DUTA, signed the statement on behalf of the teachers of the university.