Call for strengthening witness protection mechanism

The foreign minister has called for identifying and plugging the loopholes in the “entire victim support and witness protection” mechanism in Bangladesh as the trials of alleged war criminals are on.

AH Mahmood Ali on Monday cited the murder of Mostafa Howladar in Pirojpur last December for testifying against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee who was in the dock for committing crimes against humanity in 1971 War of Independence.

“We should not be surprised if those testifying against the alleged criminals in other sensational cases too meet the similar fate,” he added.

He said the unfortunate case of Howladar “may discourage critical witnesses to give testimony against powerful or intimidating forces, and thus frustrate the course of justice”.

The minister was speaking at a workshop on “strengthening national legal frameworks for the protection and support of victims and witnesses of terrorism”.

The government organised the workshop, with the support of US and the UN, bringing together judicial, prosecutorial, and investigating officials.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque and US Ambassador Dan Mozena addressed the inaugural session among others.

The foreign minister said Howladar was killed even after the International Crimes Tribunal asked for providing minimum protection to witnesses.

“This merits serious introspection on our part to review our entire victim support and witness protection legislation and mechanism with a view to identifying and addressing the gaps,” he said.

The minister also cited grenade attacks on Awami League rally and last year’s BNP-Jamaat mayhem in the run-up to the elections.

He said under the pretext of derailing the 10th parliamentary elections, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami committed “mindless atrocities murdering and maiming scores of people, most of them innocent civilians including women and children”.

“Their wanton killing spree stunned the whole world, and the international community kept urging for restraint,” he said.

“What we find most regrettable is that there seems to be no remorse among the masterminds of these attacks for what they have done”.

He suggested “adequate support and protection” for the victims from the State.

“In addition, they must be given due recourse to justice to hold the perpetrators accountable and shatter the culture of impunity that often allow the culprits to remain above the law”.

He, however, said in a resource-constrained setting such as Bangladesh victims often found themselves pushed to the margins.

The price that terrorism and violent extremism exert on their victims was “indeed too high to be measured in compensatory terms”.

He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken it upon herself to ensure support and compensation for many of these victims.

“This is indeed befitting of her exemplary leadership style,” he said.

Ambassador Mozena cited Sep 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, and said “Bangladesh, too, knows the pain of terrorism”.

“This month … in 2004 and again in 2005 … Bangladesh felt the sting of terrorism as a well-coordinated bombing campaign struck 63 of the nation’s 64 districts within a single day, as a barrage of grenades rained upon the then Leader of the Opposition (Sheikh Hasina) and her supporters, slaughtering so many innocent people”.

“I give high marks to the government for its powerful actions to excise the cancer of terrorism from the nation”.

He, however, cautioned against complacency, saying “forces of terror endure and remain determined to destroy freedom wherever possible, including in America and in Bangladesh”.