The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) has long been the subject of serious controversy because of its involvement in enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture in secret detention facilities, and other grave human rights violations during the Awami League government’s tenure.

The people of Bangladesh have suffered too heavily for too long from abuse of power, lack of accountable governance, deficits in the rule of law and access to justice, and multidimensional violations of human rights.

On June 2, with a border conference six days away, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed spoke to reporters at the Secretariat and dismantled decades of Bangladeshi advocacy in a single sweep.