Deputy Harun and Barrister Rumin’s anti-crossfire comments in Parliament

BNP MP Harunur Rashid on Monday referred to several extrajudicial executions in parliament and said: “The murder of retired Major Sinha Rashed is on trial today.” The court has accepted his family’s case, the investigation is ongoing. But there have been more than three thousand murders in Bangladesh, will they not receive justice? Will the state not support them? Won’t the state give them this right?

Taking part in an unscheduled discussion in the National Assembly today, MP Harunur Rashid protested the extrajudicial killings in the country in the name of the ‘shooting’. Rumin Farhana, another BNP MP, supported his statement. Two BNP MPs demanded justice for those involved in the killings, as well as to bring them under the law. They also demanded a statement from the Interior Minister on the matter.

Harunur Rashid first gave the example of several extrajudicial executions in his constituency, saying that these killings violate the constitution. “I was sworn in as a deputy in Parliament on April 24 last year,” he said. Just two days later, on April 30, another extrajudicial execution was publicly inhumane in my constituency. A professional agency arrested a civilian around 3 p.m., shot him dead, and produced a police statement. The incident occurred just one kilometer from the police station. The statement said police had been recklessly attacked. But the rescue showed hand-made weapons.

Addressing the spokesperson, Harunur Rashid further said that most importantly, two people have been charged in this incident. One of them was his older brother, the vice presidential candidate in our area. But on the day of the incident, they came to Parliament and watched our session from the Gallery of Parliament. Everyone has to ask permission to enter parliament. This Parliament has those documents. I issued passes in his name. On the 30th they were present in this Parliament from the Visitors Gallery. By mentioning that they were present that day, they have been charged in the case. They are doing drama by picking up and killing people with the identity of law enforcement.

BNP MP Harunur Rashid further said: ‘What I am saying, I am saying with Allah as my witness. These are 100 percent true. There is not the slightest lie. A student from our area was picked up from Shewrapara in Dhaka and killed in a crossfire in the area. They gave him crossfire four days after he was picked up from Dhaka. These incidents happen one after another.

“According to the law, no one has the right to take any action against any person,” lawyer Rumin Farhana said, citing the constitution. Article 32 of the constitution calls for action against everyone in accordance with the law. This government enacted a law in 2013, the Prevention of Torture in Custody Act. Although sadly this law has been enacted, despite having all the excellent sections, there have not been many cases under this law and there have been few cases. We don’t know much about the status of these cases, how much progress has been made. Just a few days ago I saw it in the newspaper, a case has approached a verdict and a date has been set. But in these seven years, many people have died in police custody. But what happened to their cases? Why don’t families have the courage to sue? If so, how many cases are there? We do not know the status of these cases.

MP Rumin Farhana added: “The recent extrajudicial killings have caught everyone’s attention. But there is more than one extrajudicial execution every day. If I say with statistics, 46 people died in 2016, 36 in 2019 and 156 in the first six months of 2020. If we say according to arithmetic, then more than one person has died every day.

Noting that none of these killings were isolated incidents, Rumin Farhana said: “It is said over and over again that these are isolated incidents, none of them but isolated incidents. Because according to the Center for Law and Arbitration, in the later era, that is, in 12 years, more than three thousand people have been victims of extrajudicial executions. OC Pradeep from Teknaf: Each of the six incidents mentioned in the BPM case with the highest Police medal of 2019 were extrajudicial executions. If a police officer has received the highest police medal as a reward for extrajudicial executions, then it is natural for him to encourage extrajudicial executions. It is not just extrajudicial executions; money laundering is also involved in murders. people are taken away from ordinary families, money is demanded of them and if they don’t get money they are threatened with crossfire. But we have heard that the Minister of the In Terior has said that there is no word for “disappearance” in Bangladesh. Along the same lines, the IG of the police said a few days ago that there is no ‘crossfire’. This is the word of the NGOs ”.

“In a country where extrajudicial executions are encouraged in various ways, it indicates that the judiciary has been destroyed. There the rule of law has been destroyed. People have lost faith in justice and that state has become an ineffective state, “added BNP MP Rumin Farhana.