Dhaka, Sep 30 (IANS) : Bangladesh’s Awami League alleged that the law and order situation in the country has collapsed under the ruling BNP government, citing alarming records of murder, rape, mob killings and enforced disappearances.
The party accused Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed of prioritising political retaliation over law and order, saying that despite the deteriorating situation, he had appeared on a stage, boasting about eliminating the Awami League and even announcing rewards for doing so.
According to the Awami League, 21,756 cases of violence were filed across seven categories in just seven months, from February to September this year. The figures included 1,789 murders and 11,165 cases of violence against women and children, while 317 attacks on police were also reported.
The party further said that between January and August, 339 rapes were reported, including 114 gang rapes, with 41 cases in which victims were allegedly killed after being raped. It also cited 31 deaths in mob violence in June and another 28 deaths in August.
Referring to findings by the Dhaka-based Human Rights Support Society (HRSS), the Awami League said political violence during January-June this year resulted in 56 deaths and 5,246 injuries across 830 incidents. The party said 44 members of minority communities were killed, while 383 journalists were subjected to harassment or attacks. In August alone, it said, 87 unidentified bodies were recovered from rivers, canals and wooded areas, according to the report.
“Against this backdrop, the Home Minister’s biggest concern appears to be offering rewards for catching so-called Awami League collaborators. It is as if roses are being handed out on a blood-soaked battlefield. The minister boasts about police intelligence, yet deaths in police custody, enforced disappearances and the deaths of 58 people in prisons do not appear to be part of the accounting on his desk,” the Awami League stated.
“The condition of Bangladesh during the BNP-Jamaat government from 2001 to 2006, including political killings, enforced disappearances, persecution of minorities and corruption, cannot simply be erased from the pages of history. Now back in power, the BNP has demonstrated within just seven months that it has not returned to govern, but to seek revenge,” it added.
The party questioned how deep political bankruptcy must become before a government announces its intention to completely eliminate the very political party through whose leadership Bangladesh was born.
“Maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the Home Ministry. When a minister, having failed to fulfill that responsibility, instead begins announcing rewards for political arrests, it becomes clear that, for this government, the safety and security of the people are not the priority. Political retaliation is,” it highlighted.
