Govt neither supports nor allows extrajudicial killings

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Saturday said the government neither gave any authority to any law enforcement agency to carry out extrajudicial killings nor supported such killings.

"The US 2015 Country Report on Human Rights Practices doesn't not reflect Bangladesh's real socio-economic and political conditions…it has not been prepared on the basis of facts. I request the US government for reviewing it," the minister told at a press briefing on the report at the conference room of Press Information Department in the capital.

"If any agency gets involved in any incident of extrajudicial killing, then the government conducts an investigation and takes punitive action if it is found guilty," said Inu, adding that the government already took actions against over 800 Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members.

The minister also said the government always shows zero tolerance to terrorist activities and militancy and is not creating any pressure on the media…, he added.

In the report, the US claimed that authorities in Bangladesh have failed at times to maintain effective control over security forces.

Among many other things, the report listed extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, the killing of secular bloggers and others by groups espousing extremist views, restrictions on online speech and the press in Bangladesh.