No extra-judicial killing taking place: Home minister
Monday, 7 September 2009
The ongoing crackdown on outlaws and extremists in the southwest is based on a list prepared by the law-enforcement agencies.
Minister for Home Affairs Sahara Khatun said this while talking to journalists at the Secretariat in the city Sunday, reports bdnews24.com
"The law-enforcers are carrying out the clampdown as the extremists and terrorists regrouped in the south-western region", the minister said.
She claimed that no extra-judicial killing was taking place during the crackdown. "Those who are getting killed are dying in gun battles with the police and RAB."
"Will the law-enforcers take bullets trying to detain the extremists?" she snapped at reporters.
"The outlaws, terrorists and militants should be nabbed and they (the law enforcers) will take any measure for that", the minister said.
Security has deteriorated in recent times in the region, which was a 'death valley' a few years back, with a number of murders taking place.
Six people died in the alleged gunfights with police and RAB in last two weeks.
Sahara hinted that another list was going to be prepared. "The people linked to the outlawed parties should be listed."
"They are changing their strategies. The law enforcers will have to change theirs as well", the minister said.
Human rights watchdog Odhikar said 19 people were killed in crossfire with RAB and police in August, most of them occurring in the southwestern region. Ten of the victims were activists of outlawed parties.
The human-rights organisations have long been asking the government to stop the killings terming them extra-judicial.
RAB on Thursday said as many as 577 people were killed in 'crossfire' in 472 incidents until August 31 since the formation of the elite force on March 26, 2004.
The High Court on June 29 asked the government to explain why killing without trial in so-called crossfire or encounter will not be declared illegal, and why departmental and criminal actions should not be taken against those who perpetrate such killings in custody and outside.
The shooting incidents are commonly reported as 'crossfire' in the media, a term which has come to imply 'suspicious' or extra-judicial killings.
Most recently, controversy was sparked when two polytechnic students were killed in RAB 'crossfire' in the capital in early June.
Former state minister for home affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj had said the RAB had launched a departmental investigation into the death of the two students.
According to rights group Odhikar, 322 people were killed in 'crossfire' during the last two years of the caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed.
Minister for Home Affairs Sahara Khatun said this while talking to journalists at the Secretariat in the city Sunday, reports bdnews24.com
"The law-enforcers are carrying out the clampdown as the extremists and terrorists regrouped in the south-western region", the minister said.
She claimed that no extra-judicial killing was taking place during the crackdown. "Those who are getting killed are dying in gun battles with the police and RAB."
"Will the law-enforcers take bullets trying to detain the extremists?" she snapped at reporters.
"The outlaws, terrorists and militants should be nabbed and they (the law enforcers) will take any measure for that", the minister said.
Security has deteriorated in recent times in the region, which was a 'death valley' a few years back, with a number of murders taking place.
Six people died in the alleged gunfights with police and RAB in last two weeks.
Sahara hinted that another list was going to be prepared. "The people linked to the outlawed parties should be listed."
"They are changing their strategies. The law enforcers will have to change theirs as well", the minister said.
Human rights watchdog Odhikar said 19 people were killed in crossfire with RAB and police in August, most of them occurring in the southwestern region. Ten of the victims were activists of outlawed parties.
The human-rights organisations have long been asking the government to stop the killings terming them extra-judicial.
RAB on Thursday said as many as 577 people were killed in 'crossfire' in 472 incidents until August 31 since the formation of the elite force on March 26, 2004.
The High Court on June 29 asked the government to explain why killing without trial in so-called crossfire or encounter will not be declared illegal, and why departmental and criminal actions should not be taken against those who perpetrate such killings in custody and outside.
The shooting incidents are commonly reported as 'crossfire' in the media, a term which has come to imply 'suspicious' or extra-judicial killings.
Most recently, controversy was sparked when two polytechnic students were killed in RAB 'crossfire' in the capital in early June.
Former state minister for home affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj had said the RAB had launched a departmental investigation into the death of the two students.
According to rights group Odhikar, 322 people were killed in 'crossfire' during the last two years of the caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed.