BNP lawmaker demands home minister’s statement in JS

Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker M Harunur Rashid on Monday demanded a statement of home minister Asaduzzaman Khan in the parliament on extrajudicial killing in the country.

Taking floor on point of order in the house, Harun said that although the constitution stipulated equal rights to every citizen for enjoying rule of law, many people were being deprived of the rights.

He said that many people were being killed in police custody and plainclothes men were picking up many people in the name of law enforcement agencies and killing them in the name of ‘crossfire’.

Quoting the findings of different local and international human rights organisations, Harun said that over 3,000 people were victim of extrajudicial killing in the last 10 to 12 years.

‘Have the constitutional rights been postponed for the people who lost their family members in such extrajudicial killing or enforced disappearance?’ Harun asked. He also elaborated some incidents of extrajudicial killing that had taken place in his constituency — Chapainawabganj-3.

‘Investigation into and trial of the killing of retired major Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan are going on. What about the rest 3,000 victims? Will their family get a chance to seek legal remedies? Will the state stand by them?’ Harun asked.

BNP lawmaker Rumeen Farhana said that more than one extrajudicial killing was taking place in the country in a day

None of the killing is an isolated incident, said Rumeen, a lawmaker from reserved seat for women

She said that suspended Teknaf police station officer-in-charge Pradeep Kumar Das, who had recently been relieved of his duties over the killing of Sinha in a police firing, was conferred the highest police award, Bangladesh Police Medal in 2019.

She said that Pradeep obtained the award for six of his achievements, while all the six achievements were extrajudicial killings.

She said that such award was encouraging the law enforcers to go for more killings.

‘When a state encourages extrajudicial killing in different ways, it gives a hint that the judiciary has been destroyed here,’ she added.

She said that such practice indicated that people had lost their faith in the judiciary and the state had turned into a ‘failed state’.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Pir Fazlur Rahman said that BNP also had no way to avoid responsibility of extrajudicial killing as it killed a large number of people in the name of operation clean heart during its regime in 2003 and 2004.

He also said that OC Pradeep got his first promotion during the BNP-led government.  Source. New Age