Probe into ‘extrajudicial killings’ demanded

The Bangladesh Bar Council on Sunday demanded formation a high-level inquiry committee to probe the alleged incidents of extrajudicial killings across the country. Addressing a press conference, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, vice-chairman of the lawyers’ statutory regulating body, came up with the demand. Issuing a note of warning, Mahbub said, “If the government doesn’t pay heed to it, we’ll be compelled to place the issue at the international level as Bangladesh is one of the signatories to the UN Human Rights Charter.” The lawyers’ leader alleged that the situation has turned worse due to the incidents of ‘extrajudicial killing, forced disappearance and persecution’ to the leaders and activists of the opposition parties. Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) secretary Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon was also present at the press conference, according to a news agency.