HRW predicts more tensions

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 11 May 2013, 08:28 AM
Updated : 11 May 2013, 08:42 AM

The Human Rights Watch on Saturday predicted political tensions were ‘likely’ to increase in Bangladesh in the wake of more war crimes verdicts and in the run-up to the next general elections.

“Past war crimes verdicts have been a catalyst for protests and violence throughout Bangladesh,” it said in a statement released on its website on Saturday.

It called Bangladesh’s authorities to set up an independent commission ‘immediately’ to investigate deaths and injuries during the May 5 Hifazat-e-Islam’s Dhaka siege and said the commission should also investigate violence that occurred in February, March and April after International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) verdicts.

The current government has set up tribunals to try crimes against humanity including murder and rape in 1971 during Bangladesh’s war of independence.

The top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders who sided with Pakistani occupational forces are facing the trial.

In the latest verdict, tribunal awarded death penalty to Mohamed Kamaruzzaman, a key Jamaat leader.

The New York-based rights group said a flashpoint could be the reaction to the May 9 death penalty handed down to Kamaruzzaman.

“Bangladesh will see a plethora of demonstrations this year in response to additional verdicts from the ICT and in the run-up to national elections,” said its Asia Director Brad Adams.

He went on: “Without an independent investigation, accountability, and improved policing methods, we could see serial bloodbaths”.

The rights group called on the main opposition BNP and its key ally Jammat-e-Islami “to condemn and take steps to deter their supporters from carrying out unlawful attacks, including on law enforcement officers or members of the public with different political views”.

“The Bangladeshi government has a responsibility to victims, whether protesters, bystanders or police, to ensure that an effective investigation is carried out into each death,” Adams said in the statement.