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.
About the formation of the proposed inquiry committee, Khandker Mahbub, also an adviser to the BNP chairperson, said the committee might be formed with a judge of the Supreme Court as its head and representatives from the Bar Council, the National Press Club and rights bodies.
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. “But, the government has been playing the role of a silent spectator.”
Referring to the information collected from newspaper reports and rights bodies, Mahbub said 229 people fell victims to extrajudicial killings in 2009, while 133 in 2010, 100 in 2011, 91 in 2012 and 71 in 2013. Besides, 44 people fell victims to similar killings from January to February 10, 2014, he added.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) secretary Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon was also present at the press conference.
Source: UNBConnect
