bdnews24.com :
A Cabinet committee on law and order has strongly criticised Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s call to disband elite police unit, RAB, and outrightly rejected the proposal.
US-based HRW on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blaming RAB for 800 deaths since the force’s inception in 2004.
“Whether we’ll disband RAB or not is entirely an internal issue,” Amir Hossain Amu told reporters after a meeting of the committee. “It doesn’t concern them
(HRW),” he said. In its letter, the HRW dubbed RAB a “death squad” and claimed the elite police unit had acted to ‘execute’ opposition activists before January election.
Reacting to it, Amu said, “We won’t take a decision based on their (HRW) letter.
“We’ll take our own decision.” RAB has been in the spotlight since the allegations of its members’ involvement in the abduction and murder of seven men in Narayanganj in April surfaced. BNP chief Khaleda Zia has since then repeatedly called for disbanding the force, which was formed when she was the prime minister. The incumbent prime minister dismissed Khaleda’s demand, saying the elite unit had become an institution which cannot be shut overnight.
Various quarters have pushed for “reforming” the RAB instead of disbanding it. The HRW had made a similar call in 2012. Its Asia director Brad Adams on Monday said, “The Bangladeshi government has promised to reform RAB and hold it accountable, but it has utterly failed.
“The lack of accountability has allowed the Rapid Action Battalion to run amok. RAB is beyond reform and should swiftly be abolished.”
