Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Monday said human rights organisation Odhikar was working with political motives.
The minister made the claim at a press briefing amid protests from BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and several international human rights groups over the arrest of Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan.
Khan was arrested on Saturday night from Gulshan on charges of ‘distorting information’ regarding the May 5 police drive against the rampaging Hifazat-e Islam activists at Dhaka’s Motijheel.
Khan was the Deputy Attorney General during the erstwhile four-party alliance government. He allegedly has a close link with Jamaat-e-Islami.
Hasanul Haq Inu on Monday rejected Odikhar’s claim, made in one of its recent reports, that 61 people were killed in the police drive on that fateful night on May 5 while clearing the Saapla Chattar in Dhaka of Hifazat activists who had decided to occupy the space.
The government dismissed the claims as rumours and last month sent a letter to the organisation seeking proof of what it had mentioned in the report. Odhikar had sent a reply.
Inu said, “The organisation refused to provide the identities of the dead.”
“The confusion over the number of casualties from clashes between law enforcers and Hifazat (activists) had only increased after the Odhikar report claimed 61 died during the clash.”
Source: Bd news24
