Dr Mizanur Rahman was appointed chairman of the Bangladesh Human Rights Commission in 2010. After holding this post for a stretch of six years, in two consecutive three-year terms, he now returns to teaching. He received the Professor NR Madhav Menon Best Law Teacher Award. He obtained LLM and PhD degrees from Moscow’s Friendship University and joined Dhaka University in 1989.
Interviewed by Mizanur Rahman Khan
Prothom Alo: Along with the pictures on the wall of you with the president, the prime minister and the speaker, there are many awards too, including the Gandhi and Mandela awards. In context of the human rights stances of these two, where does Bangladesh stand today?
Mizanur Rahman: The way they viewed and practiced human dignity, is absent in Bangladesh today. If human dignity lies at the heart of human rights, then there is a gaping deficiency. The fact that man is above all, must be taken completely to heart.
Prothom Alo: But we have divided the people, into BNP people, Jamaat people, pro and anti-independence people and so on.
Mizanur Rahman: Many say I need teeth and fangs or else I can’t take action. But that is not the case. It is important for directives to be heeded. There is no democracy where criticism is not tolerated, where there is no forbearance, where differing views are not given due importance.
Prothom Alo: During your term there were forced disappearances, but you did not carry out any investigations.
Mizanur Rahman: I unequivocally expressed our concern and anxiety in the UN Human Rights Council. The government denied these disappearances, but we maintained these were taking place. We didn’t hide it. There is a difference between disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
And the 2009 law states that the commission cannot investigate complaints against the law enforcement agencies. The complaints that came to us specifically mentioned RAB or the police. So I was restricted by the law.
Prothom Alo: So you are placing the state in the dock!
Mizanur Rahman: I agree, the state is apparently in the dock. We gave the time and date of each and every incident and asked these to be investigated and the commission to be apprised. We asked for a probe into the Ilias Ali disappearance. We had asked for investigations into 23 killings and handed over the list to the president when we received no response. We have submitted repeated reminders to the home ministry, but to no avail.
Prothom Alo: Legally, you could take sides in cases related to human rights violations. Why didn’t you?
Mizanur Rahman: Over the past six years, I only got involved in the Sagar-Runi case. I freed a certain Tanveer, who had been detained with no trial.
Prothom Alo: Why have “gunfights” increased recently? Disappearances had replaced extrajudicial killings.
Mizanur Rahman: This had decreased when the international community took up the issue. There were disappearances in Guatemala too. Protests led to change there.
Prothom Alo: Can the state not do without extrajudicial killings? How can this change?
Mizanur Rahman: If justice was not distorted, if justice was not hostage to muscle, politics and money, then there would be no need to look for alternatives.
Prothom Alo: What about press freedom and freedom of expression?
Mizanur Rahman: There is more freedom of expression than there is freedom of assembly. BNP and Jamaat’s statements come in the media, the question is of their publish gatherings. The nurses and teachers were not treated well either.
Prothom Alo: Many of your statements made the headlines over the past six years. But there was no mention of the human rights of the political opposition being violated. Will you accept this criticism?
Mizanur Rahman: I will not. I never took political identity into consideration.
Prothom Alo: In the case of petrol bombs, you spoke in favour of using force. But there has been no involvement of the judiciary in this till now. Is this the failure of the government or it this politically motivated?
Mizanur Rahman: Many will agree with your criticism. It can’t be said that they don’t have the power. They have displayed their abilities in a few instances. After the Avijit killing, the FBI came. We thought this time no one will escape. But does that mean they are incapable? So my question to is, are they politically motivated? This is being used as a weapon. I do not have the accurate data and information that I can give an answer.
Prothom Alo: What about the recent killings of members of the minority?
Mizanur Rahman: Creating a sense of insecurity among the common people ushers in a reign of terror. When a community is completely engulfed in panic, then it is easy to say that nothing is in control of the government.
Prothom Alo: Can the crisis be resolved through a general election or the revival of a political process, or will this just make things worse?
Mizanur Rahman: Jamaat is changing its logo but not its 1971 stand. You can throw petrol bombs but won’t admit it. So how can we be assured that there won’t be a repetition of this?
Prothom Alo: According to former US ambassador Milam, the crisis of governance is much more acute a problem in Bangladesh than terrorism. The European Union feels that freedom of expression and human rights have deteriorated after the 2014 election.
Mizanur Rahman: I do not agree fully with that. I do not deny there are problems in governance, but you can’t look at Bangladesh in isolation. Think of it globally. Can Europe and America not be blamed for the rise in extremism? Isn’t today’s situation a result of invasion into a sovereign country?
Prothom Alo: Have the Supreme Court’s guidelines been followed in the arrest of over ten thousand people during the special drive against militants?
Mizanur Rahman: No, this is a contempt of court. That is why the court should play a more proactive role than a reactive one. When 4000 people are arrested to catch 40 militants, they can’t just brush this off with the excuse that there were cases against all of them. Facing charges doesn’t mean you are guilty.
Prothom Alo: List six milestone achievements you have made during your six years in office?
Mizanur Rahman: By creating the post of professional cooks, I stopped children taking up such jobs. I fixed the age of children at 18 and below. Thirty families who were evicted for a BGB camp in Baghaichhari were returned to their homes. Laws were drawn up against discrimination of Dalits, though this was not implemented. The Supreme Court, though, ensured that arrests can’t be made in plainclothes. I made a statement in court about former DU student Abdul Quader and the OC was arrested. I successfully intervened when the Public Service Commission refused to appoint a disabled person. I ensured full medical treatment for four or five Rana Plaza victims. I ensured that dismissed REB workers were reinstated. We had a transgender person reinstated after he lost his job at a bank. We thwarted attempts to force an elderly woman in Madaripur to sell her home. There are many such instances.
Prothom Alo: What have you done for the minorities? Can the vested property issue not be resolved for the Hindus?
Mizanur Rahman: After schedule B of the Vested Property Act was finalised in 2014, it was cancelled at my behest and the prime minister’s intervention. The Hindus would have lost their property if that schedule went through.
Prothom Alo: Who are these people who want to enact such a law during this government and expect the prime minister to sign it?
Mizanur Rahman: This is the bureaucracy and I have apprehensions about the government wants against falling prey to it. The bureaucracy has no respect for human rights or human dignity. We have drawn up guidelines pertaining to arrests, torture in safe custody and so on, but no one pays heed.
The human rights act of 2009 has also debilitated us.
Prothom Alo: The outgoing human rights commission member Professor Mahfuza Khanam told Prothom Alo when she joined office three years ago, she noted that there was no audit for the previous three years of the commission. It took her over a year to manage 65 thousand taka for a seminar. Another member, Nirupa Dewan, said she was even questioned about hiring a microbus needed for investigation work.
Mizanur Rahman: That is true. I had sent a letter to the Auditor General urging him for the audit to be carried out. That was then done from 2014. The Tk 3 crore 82 lakh allocation goes to the law ministry. An official of the AG office sits in the commission office. The commission can’t spend as it pleases. That is controlled by the law ministry. The finance minister was surprised at this. If I am told I am not independent, how can I insist that I am?
Prothom Alo: Thank you.
Mizanur Rahman: Thank you.