POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Dec 13, 2021: The United States has imposed sanctions on Bangladesh’s elite force ‘the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)’ and six of its current and former officers for alleged involvement in ‘grave human rights abuses’.
They will also be considered ineligible to enter the United States.
The RAB, as an organization, may be receiving support from the United States and its allies.
At the same time, if four other current and former RAB officials, including the banned Benazir Ahmed and RAB director general Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, have assets abroad, they could be confiscated.
On Friday, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on a total of 10 organizations and 15 individuals from various countries, including Bangladesh, who were found to be involved in human rights abuses and harassment.
However, the Home Minister of Bangladesh Asaduzzaman khan Kamal said that they have not seen the report of the United States yet and will respond to them after seeing it.
But all of a sudden, apart from the police and RAB chief of Bangladesh, various analyses are going on about the reaction to such ban on six officers who have important responsibilities in RAB at different times.
What is the reason for such a decision of the United States?
At the RAB headquarters in Dhaka, the RAB operates through eleven wings and has fifteen battalions of armed forces and police personnel across the country.
Earlier, there was an example of arrest of an army officer after the incident of disappearance and murder was leaked.
Ali Riaz, a political analyst and professor at Illinois State University in the United States, says human rights groups have long spoken out against the RAB.
What’s worse is that in October of last year, eight members of the Senate wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, making clear allegations against the RAB. Usually the US Treasury and State Department work together on these issues. It is said that the action was taken on the basis of clear and precise information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the statement of the Finance or Treasury Department.
What will be the result of this ban?
The elite force called RAB under Bangladesh Police started its journey in 2004 during the BNP government. From the very beginning, human rights organizations have been sharply critical of the nature of its work and its activities.
But this is not the first time that the United States has taken such action. That is why discussions have started in various quarters about the reaction.
Analyst Ali Riaz says one of them is administrative. In other words, the assistance that RAB received as an organization or was involved in various activities or was receiving assistance from abroad may be canceled due to the ban.
According to him, that is normal, because the allies of the United States will no longer cooperate with them after the sanctions.
Usually some message is given through this kind of system. That is, the United States is taking the allegations against the RAB as an organization. Specifically, there is talk of sanctions against certain individuals.
“If they have assets, the United States can confiscate them. Benazir Ahmed cannot go to the United States. Specifically, he will be considered ineligible to enter the United States,” he said.
But he thinks the biggest issue is diplomatic pressure. As a result of the sanctions, there is now a great deal of diplomatic pressure on the Bangladesh government.
Now why such a step?
Human rights organizations in Bangladesh have been raising various allegations against the RAB for a long time, including disappearances and murders. After the revelation of the murder of Councilor Ekram in Cox’s Bazar, there was a storm of discussion in the international arena.
Earlier, a court had sentenced 17 RAB members to death in connection with the abduction and murder of seven people in Narayanganj, which is still pending in the high court.
However, when the militant group JMB emerged in Bangladesh, the arrest of key militants, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam, also known as Bangla Bhai, was seen as a success by the RAB.
But in the 18 years since the establishment of RAB, various incidents of extrajudicial killings or disappearances have brought the force into controversy.
The US Treasury Department says at least 600 people have been reported missing in Bangladesh’s elite police force.
A report in the Treasury Department on Friday states that “widespread allegations of serious human rights abuses against RAB during the anti-drug campaign in Bangladesh – undermining the rule of law, human rights, fundamental freedoms, and economic development of the people of Bangladesh – threaten US national security interests”.
Ali Riaz says the current Biden administration in the United States has repeatedly spoken of human rights and democracy, and is currently holding a virtual conference on democracy in Washington. Where one issue is human rights.
Again, pressure was put on the US State Department from the Senate. There were eight members pressuring.
As a result, there has been pressure since the Congress. And the second new administration tried from the beginning to say that human rights, democracy and authoritarianism would be given importance. Measures are being taken in accordance with it. And it is being taken with many countries, not just Bangladesh.
Mr. Riaz thinks the new administration is actually trying to set an example by taking effective action.
