Bangladesh’s minister of surrounding for info and broadcasting has defended the federal government’s dealing with of accumulation protests, as United International locations professionals known as for an distant investigation into the federal government’s horrendous crackdown on demonstrators.
In an unique interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Mohammad Arafat stated the rustic’s safety forces had accomplished the whole thing “to bring back the peace” amid the scholar protests.
He accused “third-party” actors, together with “extremists and terrorists”, of fuelling the unrest.
“We’re not referring to the students [as] the terrorists and anarchists. It is the third party, those who intruded into this movement and started doing all this,” Arafat stated on Communicate to Al Jazeera.
“We tried our best to de-escalate the tension,” he stated, including that “some people are trying to add fuel to the fire, are trying to create a situation where they can take advantage … and topple the government”.
Hundreds of Bangladeshi scholars took to the streets previous this moment to call for reforms to the South Asian nation’s quota gadget, which allocates 30 p.c of presidency jobs to the descendants of veterans who fought for Bangladesh within the 1971 struggle.
Greater than 150 scholar protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested within the crackdown at the demonstrations, in line with native media, fuelling tensions around the folk of greater than 170 million public.
The protests grew to become violent on July 15 later participants of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) – the scholar wing of the rustic’s ruling celebration – allegedly attacked the protesters.
Police nearest cracked i’m sick at the demonstrations and imposed a curfew. Scholars have been requested to leave universities, that have been close i’m sick; companies have been shuttered, and web get right of entry to used to be disrupted national.
The Bangladeshi govt has come beneath global scrutiny for its dealing with of the protests.
On Thursday, United International locations Human Rights Well-known Volker Turk known as for “an impartial, independent and transparent investigation into all alleged human rights violations” that took place throughout the crackdown.
“We understand that many people were subjected to violent attacks by groups reportedly affiliated with the Government, and no effort was made to protect them,” Turk stated.
In a isolated commentary, a gaggle of UN professionals often known as for an distant probe into what they described as the federal government’s “violent crackdown on protesters”.
“The government is blaming other people, others are blaming the government; we need a full impartial investigation,” one of the most professionals, Irene Khan, the UN particular rapporteur on autonomy of tonality and opinion, advised Al Jazeera.
“But since there is no trust in the government, it has to be done with the international community,” Khan stated on Thursday.
“We are calling on the government to invite the UN to conduct such an investigation to find out what went wrong, to take responsibility, and to hold the perpetrators to account.”
Legit loss of life toll now not but motivated: Minister
In his interview with Communicate to Al Jazeera, Arafat – the minister – denounced the protesters for storming the headquarters of surrounding broadcaster Bangladesh Tv (BTV) within the capital, Dhaka.
He stated policemen guarding the development have been outnumbered, and “because they were not permitted to open fire … those miscreants went inside the BTV, literally invaded, and set fire and started vandalising and destroying all the assets”.
Arafat stated the federal government has but to decide an professional loss of life toll from the unrest.
“When it comes to the casualties, injuries, and deaths, we’re not willing to discriminate between the police and general people, or the protesters, or the people from the supporters of the government,” he stated.
The minister advised Al Jazeera that an distant judicial committee would safeguard a radical investigation into what took place, “so that everyone responsible for any of these casualties can be brought to book.”
Arafat additionally brushed aside any requires Top Minister Sheikh Hasina to surrender, including she had most effective been “protecting the people”.
On Tuesday, protesters prolonged the postponed in their protests till Friday, however they have been slated to fulfill on Thursday to speak about whether or not they would lengthen the relaxation additional.
Amongst their key calls for is a stipulation that Hasina will have to publicly apologise for the killings of scholars.
They have got often known as on House Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Street Delivery and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Training Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, and Regulation Minister Anisul Haque to surrender from the cupboard and the celebration.