Ruling Awami League presidium member and former shipping minister Shajahan Khan on Wednesday said that extrajudicial killing in crossfire was an important tool used by the government to maintain peace and stability in society and deter criminals, according to a press release of the Centre for Governance Studies.
He said that while the criminal justice system of Bangladesh failed to bring criminals at large to justice, the Rapid Action Battalion played a vital role in making Bangladesh safer.
The former shipping minister was addressing a webinar titled the Extrajudicial Killings: Dysfunctional Democracy and Questionable Rule of Law. The Centre for Governance Studies organised the event.
He also said that the current rapid development in Bangladesh must be attributed to the actions of law enforcement agencies to deter crime and the net benefit that these kinds of actions contribute to society must be considered.
Former Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Zahir Uddin Swapon admitted that the creation of the RAB by the last BNP government was a mistake.
He also said that the mentality behind the creation of such a security force had existed even before, as demonstrated by the creation of the then-Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini after the independence.
CGS executive director Zillur presented the findings of a study conducted by the CGS, saying that it found that 677 people were reportedly killed extra-judicially between January 2019 and December 2021.
Participating in the discussion, Gono Odhikar Parishad convener Reza Kibria said that the sanctions by the United States on the RAB were somewhat working as extrajudicial killing had gone down since then, but it was only a pause, not an end.
However, those who commit unlawful killings are being rewarded as they act on the government’s orders, he said.
And the rewarding of killers indicates that the government is culpable, he added.
Ain o Salish Kendra secretary general Nur Khan said that people did not believe in the same fabricated stories behind the incidents of extrajudicial killing.
He also pointed out that most of the law enforcement members who were being awarded faced accusations of extrajudicial killing.
‘If the security forces continue to act as judge, jury, and executioner, we do not require the existence of the legal system and the parliament,’ said Nur Khan.
Former ambassador and CGS board member M Shafiullah said that the sanctions from the USA had come as a relief to those who were not getting justice from the government.
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