Your Right To Know
Sunday, March 3, 2013
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the ongoing violence in Bangladesh.
“The secretary-general is monitoring the situation with concern and is saddened by the loss of life,” Eduardo del Buey, deputy spokesperson for the secretary general, told a daily press briefing in New York on Friday.
Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami unleashed a wave of violence across the country after a war crimes trial on Thursday sentenced its Nayeb-e-Ameer Delawar Hossain Sayedee to death. Since then, 47 people have been killed in its attacks and in clashes between its supporters and police.
The deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary general said, “While recognising that the war crime tribunal is a national process, the secretary-general calls on all concerned to act with respect for the rule of law, to stop the violence and to express their views peacefully.”
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch yesterday called upon the government and the Jamaat-e-Islami to ensure that law enforcers and party supporters do not engage in further acts of violence.
In a press statement, the New York-based rights body said media reports suggest most deaths were at the hands of police, but supporters of the ruling Awami League had also engaged in vandalism and violence.
The initial information that HRW has received suggests that the police were responding to attacks by Jamaat members and supporters that resulted in police and civilian deaths after the party called for protests against the verdict.
“The leadership of Jamaat should immediately issue public statements to its followers to stop these violent, unacceptable attacks against law enforcement officers and those who support the verdicts of the war crimes trials,” said HRW Asia Director Brad Adams.
“At the same time, the government should instruct the security forces to strictly observe its obligation to use maximum restraint and avoid lethal force unless necessary to protect their lives or those of others. If cool heads don't prevail, Dhaka could dissolve into uncontrolled violence.”
HRW also called on the political leaders to avoid making comments or using rhetoric that could incite violence or otherwise inflame the situation.
Citing Friday's press briefing where BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia criticised the government's response and compared the recent killings with the 1971 genocide, Adams said, “The violence thus far is deplorable, but wild and exaggerated rhetoric about genocide risks inciting further retaliatory violence and should be avoided.”
It called for effective investigations into the deaths during the demonstrations.
US REACTION
The United States has asked all Bangladeshis to express their views peacefully and said it welcomed peaceful efforts by the government to help calm the situation.
Patrick Ventrell, acting deputy spokesperson of the US State Department, on Friday said, “While engaging in a peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right, we believe violence is never the answer.
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