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Journey from bad to worse must be reversed: Crossfire vs secret killings

Anisur Rahman
incompetent that they cannot find the culprits who are involved in these criminal activities. If they are empowered and ordered firmly, the culprits can be brought to justice quickly. This has been seen several times in the past. But if the police and other law enforcing agencies become highly politicised, no one can expect impartial inquiries or departmental steps in case of political murders and abductions. On the other hand, even a highly professional and politically impartial law enforcing agency becomes helpless if there is interference in discharging its duties by the political authority of the state. And it is being revealed every day that many of the victims have political identity.
The government must take steps to stop all such killings and abductions. But it seems to be confused about what to do. People cannot be blamed if they become bewildered and even suspicious when high level political and administrative authorities make confusing and contradictory statements. How can the home minister say she came to know about the incidents from newspapers reports and ordered investigations? If this is the case, what were her police force and other related agencies doing? Why has she not sacked at least some of them for failure to inform her about the incidents which occurred in the recent past? In a really democratic country where political authorities are answerable to the people, a minister in such a situation would have tendered his or her resignation instead of blaming others. However, our home minister changed her version the next day. Another minister even blamed the opposition for the secret killings and picking up of people. Another quarter of the ruling authority tries to justify this new form of extra-judicial killings as normal incidents.
The people are now sure that unless tremendous pressure is put on the government from all quarters the killings and abductions will not stop. So-called crossfire killings in "encounters" have decreased substantially because of tremendous criticism from both national and international human rights organisations. Similarly, all human rights watchdogs should now be very vocal against this new phenomenon. And at the same time, all must remain vigilant and careful so that a new evil design does not replace the present secret killings and abductions. We want a guarantee for natural death.
It is true that during the previous regime secret killings, popularly known as "encounter" killings, were more rampant. But this does not justify the present secret killings. We do not want to see the change of tactics. We want qualitative change. I do not want to go back to the past. But our journey from bad to worse must be reversed and we should turn our course towards the right path.
The writer is a Bangladeshi journalist now residing in Sweden E-mail: deshbidesh@hotmail.com
INTERNATIONAL pressure to stop illegal killings by RAB in so-called crossfire has made the situation worse.
Open killings, allegedly by the elite force, have decreased to some extent because of huge criticism from national and international human rights organisations. But at the same time, secret killings have increased more than proportionately. One step forward has been eclipsed by two steps backward.
Actually, the concerned authorities have only changed their tactics. They think they will be in the good books of Amnesty International, the Human RightsWatch Group, the US foreign ministry — which publishes an annual report on human rights situation in different countries — and other similar organisations by changing the tactics. Do they think that they will be able to befool all these watchdogs for long? If so, they are living in a fool's paradise.
Decrease in custodial death and crossfire killings has been nullified and replaced more than proportionately by increase in secret or silent killings and disappearances after abduction. In most cases it is alleged that people are being picked up by plain-clothed members of the law enforcing agencies. People have become so alarmed and frightened with these types of killings and disappearances that some of them lament that the days of the secret killings, commonly known as "encounter" killings, were better.
What an irony! People are less uncomfortable about secret murders! There are reasons for it. In so- called crossfire killings, relatives of the alleged miscreants at least knew that they were killed by members of law enforcing agencies. Relatives got the dead bodies of those "miscreants." But in secret or silent killings people do not know whether they have been killed, nor do they get the dead bodies. Law enforcing agencies try to avoid their responsibility by simply denying their involvement in such abductions, though relatives and witnesses give different versions.
Even if law enforcing agencies are given the benefit of doubt, they cannot avoid their responsibility for failing to trace out the missing persons or the cause of the secret killings. It is the basic duty of the state to give protection to its citizens. And at the same time the culprits must be brought to book. Under no circumstances can the government avoid its responsibility. Failure of the law enforcing agencies to give protection to the citizens is the failure of the government in power, and when it goes to the extreme the state itself fails. We hope the government understands the gravity of the situation.
We do not think that our law enforcing agencies are so