Staff Reporter :Ain 0 Salish Kendra (ASK), a national legal aid and human rights organisation, has expressed serious concern over the rise of extrajudicial killings by law-enforcing agencies, and urged the government to stop the killings in the interest of the rule of law. It said that a total of 183 people were killed in encounters and shootouts in 2015. It was 128 in 2014.The rights organisation detailed the figure in order to present a review of the human rights in Bangladesh in the immediate past year.”The extrajudicial killings are increasing in the country alarmingly, exposing the sorrowful picture of the human rights in Bangladesh,” said Sultana Kamal, Executive Director of (ASK), in the briefing.She said, the human rights situation is not improving in the country and it is a matter of serious concern. The culture of impunity promotes extrajudicial killings, and as a result, citizens lose their trust and confidence in the law enforcement agencies. “When a country overlooks violation of human rights and harbours culture of impunity, the people tend to take the law in their own hands. This is very alarming,” she said.Sultana Kamal brought to light issues like political violence, extra judicial killings, human trafficking and migrant labour, murder of freethinking writers and publishers, infringement upon rights of religious minorities, violence against women and children, rampant killings on the international borders, attacks on journalists and violation of rights of the tribal people, while reviewing the country’s human rights situation. Criticising the government, Sultana Kamal said, extrajudicial killings in the name of ‘crossfire’ or ‘shootout’ cannot be acceptable in a civilized society. It undermines the rule of law.”The country’s law and order has deteriorated to such a level that the government has resorted to crossfire to check it instead of taking legal steps. Extrajudicial killings can’t be the solution of any problem at all,” she said. She finally urged the government to stop extrajudicial killings and to abandon the culture of impunity in order to uphold the rule of law.
