Asian Human Rights Commission

(Ed. note: The statement below was released on April 20, 2005.)

There are two expressions that cause abject fear among all sectors of society in Bangladesh. These terms are "crossfire" and "Rapid Action Battalion." While the government uses crossfire to mean gun fights between any section of the armed forces and civilians, such as criminal gangs and terrorists, the popular meaning of the term refers to people being killed by the armed forces extrajudicially with the justification being given as "an unavoidable death by crossfire." Like the term "encounter killings" used elsewhere, "crossfire" is a term that people use tongue in cheek. The sinister connotation associated with the word demonstrates the utter powerlessness of the general population of Bangladesh in the face of the extrajudicial killings that are taking place around them of which people feel anyone could be a victim. As one senior lawyer noted, crossfire is becoming a form of mental torture: "One is living with the fear all the time that he or she can be the next victim of crossfire."

The other term, "Rapid Action Battalion," or "RAB," refers to a military that has been increasingly associated with crossfire incidents across the country. The RAB, introduced after Operation Clean Heart, which caused the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of people, including 40 in police custody, is generating enormous fear within the country. Operation Clean Heart came under severe local and international criticism and was terminated. The RAB, however, is engaged in the same function of instilling fear in the population, albeit in a different manner. This battalion's legal function is merely to assist the police in arresting, detaining and handing over people who the police have difficulty in arresting. However, their actual function is very different, and they operate as an independent unit above the law.

This phenomenon is taking place in a country where there is already little faith in the normal policing system. The popular view of the police is that they either use criminal investigations to make money for themselves or they conduct illegal services on behalf of politicians. That the police demand money from complainants, accept money from alleged perpetrators and take money from third parties is a common belief shared by all levels of society. Whether it be the ordinary person in the street or lawyers, doctors or journalists, all state the same view about the policing system. In order to raise money, police use torture as an instrument. To escape torture, people have to pay. Those who are unable to pay are not only tortured but later find that cases have been fabricated against them.

In addition to this tragic situation, Bangladesh's citizens have no legal mechanism through which they can make complaints. If they complain to higher authorities within the police, the matter is not usually investigated unless there is some form of public pressure to do so. Even when there is public pressure, all that is done is to release a person who is falsely charged, end the torture of a person or not object to bail being given to a citizen who is in remand on the basis of false police reports.

Furthermore, a system of disciplinary inquiry barely exists. If public pressure is sufficient, sometimes an errant officer, particularly of a lower rank, may be transferred to another area. This is, more or less, where the disciplinary process ends. There is also the public view that when there are complaints regarding junior officers some senior officers use the occasion to obtain money from the junior members of the police.

Moreover, there are no complaint avenues outside of the police. For example, there is no National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). This shortcoming exists despite the fact that the two major political parties have both spoken about such a commission, received assistance from international agencies regarding it and even drafted a law concerning it. Evidently, despite almost unanimous public opinion to change the present state of policing, some officials that hold powerful positions within the country are unwilling or unable to bring about such a change.

Although Bangladesh has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and thereby obtained some international respectability, the state has done nothing to bring about local legislation in terms of their international obligations to eliminate torture. In other words, torture has not been made a crime in Bangladesh. In neighbouring Sri Lanka, the ratification of CAT was followed by local legislation, which imposed a seven-year mandatory sentence on anyone found guilty of the offence of torture. In Hong Kong, torture carries the punishment of life imprisonment. In Bangladesh, however, torture is treated only as physical assault. Furthermore, while the police in Bangladesh have an obligation to investigate cases of torture in the country, there is no procedure to do so when the perpetrator is the police themselves. Because of this deficiency, and due to the general state of policing in the country, people are too afraid of the repercussions to pursue a complaint of torture, particularly when it involves the police.

While ratifying CAT, the government has reserved Article 14 of the convention, which stipulates that "the state party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including means of full rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of torture, his dependents shall be entitled to compensation."

The state party of Bangladesh has kept themselves outside the jurisdiction of CAT by entering a reservation on this right. This decision means the government of Bangladesh does not accept the legal responsibility to provide compensation to the torture victim or their family or to provide rehabilitation to torture victims. In failing to accept this obligation, which is one of the core elements of CAT and all the legal doctrines associated with the elimination of torture, the government has virtually made Article 13(5) of the Bangladesh constitution that forbids torture a meaningless provision; for in making this reservation, the government has, in effect, obstructed its ability to enforce the right contained in the constitution prohibiting torture. This decision thus assists the errant police institution and all other battalions, like the RAB and many other task forces, to operate above the law. Thus, impunity has been strongly endorsed.

Such is the institutional framework within which people live in Bangladesh. The boundaries of freedom are clearly demarcated and limited by the use of torture. This state of terror is not only a human rights issue: it is also a fundamental development problem. The widespread loss of belief in rational behaviour is conditioned by the irrational that is allowed to exist within law enforcement agencies. When money-motivated or politically driven police officers interfere in the lives of people and institutions, it is not possible for successful ventures in development to take place. Fear kills all initiatives, including those for greater investment with clearly defined strategies, for all strategies are warped by the grand strategy of terror and corruption, which is the most important political and cultural factor of Bangladeshi life today.

This situation also leads to an enormous "brain drain" within the country. Qualified people who want to live free lives with their families and wish not to be involved in corruption find no prospects of prosperity in Bangladesh. Those who wish to be successful must learn to coincide with a corrupt police system, which, in turn, corrupts all other political and bureaucratic systems.

The case of an industrialist who was implicated in a crime merely for the purpose of extracting 1 million takas (nearly US,000) from him and who was tortured when he refused to pay the money is a glaring example. Under torture and the threat of being made a victim of crossfire, he agreed to pay 300,000 taka (US,000). For reducing the amount, the threat of crossfire was removed, but he was charged with a fabricated charge for which he is still in remand.

The civil society of Bangladesh is unanimously opposed to the existing systems of policing, both by the normal political apparatus as well as other units, such as the RAB. However, the two major political parties have not yet arrived at any serious assessment or strategy to overcome the problem. Instead, anti-terrorist propaganda is being used to stifle any attempt to change the current situation. New units, like the RAB, are essentially used to reinforce terror among the population through the use of extraordinary forms of violence, such as extrajudicial killings. Such conduct has created criticism from the Supreme Court itself. Chief Justice Muhammad Habibor Rahman stated at a public meeting held in January 2005: "We have belatedly decided to get a report on every death in crossfire. We ought to have asked for a report when the first incidents of death occurred. That would make the law-and-order men more cautious." Other leading figures have also condemned the closing of all doors for inquiries by passing an indemnity bill with regards to extrajudicial killings during Operation Clean Heart. The call for collective efforts by private entrepreneurs and civil society organisations to engage in assisting people affected by this system is also very common.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the government of Bangladesh to intervene in this matter and for both major political parties to pledge a complete overhaul of the policing system. We urge in particular that both major political parties agree to make torture a crime punishable with serious consequences in Bangladesh; to assign special investigating units functioning preferably under the direction of the attorney general or other independent body to speedily and efficiently investigate all complaints of extrajudicial killings, torture and the extortion of money; to establish a human rights commission; and to remove the reservation of Article 14 of CAT and accept responsibility for the rehabilitation and payment of compensation to victims and their families.