World Courant
Bangladesh’s data and broadcasting minister has defended the federal government’s dealing with of mass protests, whereas United Nations specialists referred to as for an impartial investigation into the federal government’s lethal crackdown on demonstrators.
In an unique interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Mohammad Arafat stated the nation’s safety forces had carried out every part “to revive peace” amid the scholar protests.
He accused “third occasion” actors, together with “extremists and terrorists,” of stoking the unrest.
“We’re not referring to the scholars (as) the terrorists and anarchists. It’s the third occasion, those that have joined this motion and began doing all this,” Arafat stated in Discuss to Al Jazeera.
“Now we have tried our greatest to defuse the strain,” he stated, including that “some persons are making an attempt so as to add gas to the hearth, making an attempt to create a scenario the place they will take benefit… and overthrow the federal government.”
1000’s of Bangladeshi college students took to the streets earlier this month to demand reforms to the South Asian nation’s quota system, which awards 30 p.c of presidency jobs to descendants of veterans who fought for Bangladesh within the 1971 struggle.
In response to native media, greater than 150 scholar protesters have been killed and 1000’s arrested within the crackdown on demonstrations, elevating tensions within the nation of greater than 170 million individuals.
(Al Jazeera)
The protests descended into violence on July 15 after members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the scholar wing of the nation’s ruling occasion, allegedly attacked the demonstrators.
Police then cracked down on the demonstrations, imposing a curfew. College students have been requested to depart universities, which have been closed; companies have been shut down and web entry was disrupted nationwide.
The Bangladeshi authorities has come underneath worldwide fireplace for its dealing with of the protests.
On Thursday, the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights stated Volker Turk referred to as for “an neutral, impartial and clear investigation into all alleged human rights violations” that occurred through the repression.
“We perceive that many individuals have been victims of violent assaults by teams reportedly affiliated with the federal government, and no try has been made to guard them,” Turk stated.
In a separate assertionA gaggle of UN specialists additionally referred to as for an impartial investigation into what they described as the federal government’s “violent repression of protesters”.
“The federal government is blaming different individuals, others are blaming the federal government; we’d like a completely neutral investigation,” one of many specialists, Irene Khan, the UN particular rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, informed Al Jazeera.
Bangladeshi navy troops stand guard on a avenue in Dhaka, on July 20. (Rajib Dhar/AP Picture)
“However as a result of there isn’t any belief within the authorities, it must be carried out with the worldwide neighborhood,” Khan stated on Thursday.
“We name on the federal government to ask the UN to conduct such an investigation to seek out out what went mistaken, to take accountability and to carry the perpetrators accountable.”
Official loss of life toll not but decided: Minister
In his interview with Discuss to Al Jazeera, Minister Arafat condemned the protesters for storming the headquarters of the state broadcaster Bangladesh Tv (BTV) within the capital Dhaka.
He stated the police guarding the constructing have been outnumbered, and “as a result of they weren’t allowed to shoot… these thugs entered the BTV, actually stormed in, set fireplace to it and began vandalizing and destroying all of the property.”
Arafat stated the federal government had not but formally decided the loss of life toll from the unrest.
“Relating to casualties, accidents and deaths, we aren’t ready to distinguish between the police and the overall inhabitants, or the protesters, or the individuals who help the federal government,” he stated.
The minister informed Al Jazeera that an impartial judicial fee would conduct an intensive investigation into what occurred, “so that everybody answerable for these victims may be held accountable.”
Arafat additionally rejected requires Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down, including that she was solely “defending the individuals”.
An injured protester is taken to hospital after a conflict with police and Awami League supporters in Dhaka’s Rampura district on July 18. (Anik Rahman/Reuters)
On Tuesday, the protesters prolonged the suspension of their protests till Friday, however they have been scheduled to fulfill on Thursday to debate whether or not to increase the suspension additional.
One in all their foremost calls for is that Hasina publicly apologize for the killing of scholars.
They’ve additionally referred to as on Residence Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Street Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Schooling Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and Regulation Minister Anisul Haque to resign from the cupboard and the occasion.
Bangladesh minister defends authorities response to protests amid requires probe | Protest Information
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