Days after Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its annual report with scathing references to Bangladesh on rights abuses, the country’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud termed it “one-sided, unacceptable, and politically motivated.” In its World Report 2022, the global rights body said the security forces in Bangladesh continued to commit crimes such as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings with impunity.

It further noted that all these incidents happened while the ruling Awami League government made it clear in 2021 that it had no intention of addressing a pattern of grave abuses like these ones.

“After reading the report, it appears that someone from Bangladesh had drafted it and later they [HRW] published it following revision," Mahmud was quoted as saying by The Daily Star in response to the report. 

The report released on Thursday said, “Authorities cracked down on critics, journalists, and even children who criticized the government or dared to question its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.” 

Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had been under the intense scrutiny of rights groups for its high-handedness and alleged extra-judicial killings.

In recent years, the force has been increasingly used in targeting political opponents, and critics, rights groups alleged.

Early in December, the US government sanctioned Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) —an elite paramilitary force in Bangladesh, formed in 2004 for fighting organized crimes, drug, and human trafficking— and seven of its former and serving officials, citing extra-judicial killings, and right violations. 

Significantly, some reports suggested the HRW and Amnesty International were among the groups that had actively lobbied in Washington for the sanctions on RAB officials. Bangladesh initially reacted sharply to the US sanctions but later indicated the government was ready to talk about the issue to clear s misunderstandings and, if necessary, take remedial actions. 

Recently, Bangladesh has also hired lobbying firms in Washington DC to influence the US administration and rights agencies. 

(SAM)