Sadeq Khan
Strange disappearances and targeted killings of political or social luminaries, and of some businessmen as well, has been going on for about a decade in Bangladesh. International Human Rights organisations and US State Department’s annual reports on global situation of human rights have been focusing on such incidents of disappearances and targeted killings in Bangladesh.
The mysteries of many of these cases have never been resolved. Blackmail and extortion has been found to be a reason in some cases where businessmen were the victims, but a number of conspicuous persons of political, social or intellectual influence or distinction have long been suspected to have been targeted as exemplary victims for their community position and political or intellectual activism, and not for material gains of rivals, extortionists or beneficiaries of their disappearance or extermination.
Bangladesh is a target
The involvements of Rapid Action Battalion, Detective Branch Police in plain clothes, real or fake, have been reported in a number of cases. Religious extremists have been avowedly involved in some blasphemy-related killings. In other words, so far only internal mischief-makers have been identified in relation to such disappearances and killings. Opposition elements claimed to have identified in some cases Indian RAW-supported covert operators from across the border as the perpetrators of forced disappearances and possibly killings without trace. The ruling party, on the other hand, has been squarely putting the blame on opposition “BNP-Jamaat alliance” of conspiracy behind many such incidents.
Of late, in international social media network connected with ISIL have in their propaganda mapped Bangladesh along with northern India and Pakistan as a target to be vanquished for inclusion in future Caliphate. Al-Qaeda also named a supposedly India-based commander for leading and coordinating operations in the South Asian subcontinent, specifically naming Bangladesh as a target of operations. There is a general impression that our political elite as a whole and, in particular, those at the helm of the government are cavalierly dismissing such external threats to our civic order and security, denying external links to acts of terror and mysterious disappearances or discovered murders without clue. Political blame game has become a habit with our politicians, who find it convenient to pass the buck of failures in guarding civic order and public safety.
US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat, in a conference in Dhaka on ‘Transnational Organised Crime as a Global Challenge’ at Police Staff College beginning 14 October, has drawn attention to the phenomenon in an objective manner. While addressing the conference, Jointly organised by the US Embassy to Bangladesh, the British High Commission, and the government of Bangladesh, she said: “Bangladesh is relatively a young country on the world’s stage with a remarkable track record in development, economic growth and secular governance. This in some ways makes Bangladesh an especially attractive target for transnational criminal organisations of all types.”
Bernicat for joint investigation
She highlighted the need for close regional and international cooperation to address a criminal threat that transcends borders. Bernicat said, international and regional security services together could dismantle criminal and insurgent groups that were once considered to be impenetrable and beyond reach. She warned: “You’re by no means alone in this fight. But make no mistake, you’re in this fight, not immune from it.”
She said joining efforts also means boosting other relationships, particularly at the government-to-government level: “Our intelligence services, for example, must serve as models of collaboration between themselves and with law enforcement agencies. Information freely collected, analysed and shared is a powerful antidote against transnational crime. When information is withheld, lives are lost. The United States and Bangladesh share an impressive partnership in addressing transnational organised crime. It’s in the spirit of our collaborative partnership that we come together for this important program.”
She lauded Bangladesh for acting with urgency to face challenges of transnational crime and to adopt new policies to prevent violent extremism and to counter terrorism. She referred to this year’s UN General Assembly event where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined President Obama and other global leaders to address the common threats of violent extremism and terrorism.
Bernicat pointed out that South Asia is a large, populous, and rapidly developing region, and its evolution and wellbeing matter to countries far away, including her own: “Peace and stability in South Asia make for a more peaceful and stable world. We must act together because we’re a globalised world. For better and for worse, what happens in one country affects the citizens of another.”
Our politicians should listen to this voice of reason, and stop senseless blame game over the threat of trans-border crime and terror, so that our security agencies together with regional and international security organisations may objectively meet the global challenge of transnational organised crime.
Source: Weekly Holiday
