Government will not disband RAB: Kamal

State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has brushed aside demands of disbanding the beleaguered Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) following allegations of its involvement in the abduction and killing of seven people in Narayanganj.

The elite force has been facing scathing criticism for quite a while and blamed for extrajudicial killings in the guise of alleged encounters.

“Disbanding RAB is out of the question,” Kamal said.

“Those who had committed crimes (in the past) were punished. Many also served jail terms,” he said on Wednesday while briefing journalists on administrative measures taken after the gruesome killings in Narayanganj.

Only hours earlier, BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had questioned the need to have RAB as it was facing a pile of criminal charges.

The junior home minister admitted that the Narayanganj incident had tarnished RAB’s ‘image’. “But the government is also trying to repair it.”

RAB was instituted by the former BNP-led Four-Party alliance government in 2004. Since then, both local and international human rights organisations have been criticising it for committing extrajudicial killings in the name of ‘crossfire’.

Seven men, including a Narayanganj City Councillor, were abducted on Apr 27. Their bodies were found floating in the Shitalakhya river several days later.

A relative of slain Councillor Nazrul Islam alleged that RAB had been paid by another city councillor to carry out the abductions and murders.

Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam had also claimed that police did not record his case when the family went to lodge a complaint, accusing RAB officials.

Regarding Shahidul’s allegations, Asaduzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday said, “Names of many will emerge from the investigation. Whoever they are will be punished by the law.”

Following the allegations, RAB formed a four-member committee to probe them. The High Court has also ordered the formation of a seven-member team for administrative investigation.

The army on Wednesday forced three officers, accused of taking bribes to kill Nazrul and six others, to retire. They were on deputation to RAB-11 in Narayanganj.

The officers are Lt Col Tarek Sayeed Mahmud, Major Arif Hossain and naval officer Lt Commander MM Rana.

Mahmud was the RAB-11 commanding officer, and was withdrawn two days after the abduction. The district’s Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioner were also removed.

The state minister said it would be checked whether deputed officials in Narayanganj neglected their duty.

Though the law enforcers are yet to arrest any of the accused even a week after the crime, the minister said borders and airports of the country had been alerted to prevent them from fleeing.