AHMEDE HUSSAIN
Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government, visited Aynaghar on 12 February. It’s a network of secret detention centres where political opponents were kept indefinitely. These illegal facilities were run by Bangladesh’s defence intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence or DGFI and the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion or RAB. The DGFI is headed by a Major General of the Bangladesh Army. Members of the Armed Forces are posted in the organisation— the same goes for the Rab.
It portrays a grim picture of the way former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her faithful in the Army, Rab and the police ran business during her time in office—these illegal prisons are also found inside Dhaka Cantonment, the very place that is supposed to be the vanguard of Bangladesh’s sovereignty.
When it comes to the Army, the report paints an even gorier picture. It contains multiple documented cases of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations committed by Army personnel during the July-August 2024 protests.
“Bangladesh Army soldiers fired military rifles loaded with lethal ammunition at protesters on at least three occasions with an apparent intent to kill, resulting in at least one extrajudicial killing,” the report notes.
It also accuses the Army of enabling human rights violations: “The Army provided a protective cover shielding the police and other security forces from counterattack, notably during the brutal clearance of the blockaded Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in which police and RAB committed numerous extrajudicial killings in and around Jatrabari.”
The Army was allegedly involved in arbitrary arrests and mass detentions too. “In late July, the Army also participated in massive raids, in which Police and RAB arbitrarily arrested large numbers of people to prevent a reignition of mass protests.”
Bangladesh Army’s response
ThePrint has obtained a copy of Bangladesh Army Headquarters’ response to the OHCHR report. Written by its Judge Advocate General’s Department, the letter was sent to the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh. And it denies any human rights abuse.
The UN Human Rights office in Geneva, and Jeremy Laurence, the organisation’s spokesperson, acknowledged receiving the said letter.
The Army’s missive “firmly denies any systematic or intentional human rights violations as alleged in the fact-finding report.”
“Maintaining law and order in volatile situations can be challenging, any use of force applied was within the parameters of domestic and international framework. The presence of magistrates, as required under Bangladesh’s legal provisions, was ensured during operations to maintain accountability and oversight,” the letter goes on to add.
In its defence, the Army said that it operates under the directives of the government of Bangladesh and in strict adherence to the Constitution and existing laws of the country. “During the July and August 2024 protests, military personnel were deployed to assist the civil authorities in restoring law and order in an environment that had turned increasingly violent, with reports of mass destruction of public properties and threat to public security.”
However, the Army’s legal justification for deployment is irrelevant. In fact, it’s a distraction from the real issue. The question is not whether the deployment of the Army was legal under domestic law. The crux of the matter is whether members of the Army, during their deployment, were engaged in human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detentions.
None of the legal provisions cited by the Army justify the excessive use of force, extrajudicial killings, or human rights abuses. Under international human rights law, security forces, including the Army, cannot use excessive force against civilians—even when deployed under legal provisions.
The UN report does not challenge the legality of the Army’s presence but instead documents the abuses committed by the personnel on the ground. The Army’s attempt to divert attention from this fact is reprehensible.
Protecting human rights violators
Instead of addressing the documented evidence in the UN report, the Bangladesh Army has chosen to deny the findings outright—and that too without conducting its own investigation or presenting any counter-evidence.
The UN Fact-Finding Report is based on in-depth interviews, forensic analysis, video evidence, and substantial documentation.
Without a transparent and independent investigation, the Army’s attempt to dismiss the UN’s findings appears to be a shoddy way of hiding the truth.
The letter sent in response to the allegations raises serious questions about the Bangladesh Army’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law. Rather than rejecting the UN report in such a cavalier manner, it must take the responsible course of action— acknowledge the acts of abuse that its members have committed. And it should work toward cleaning its rank of perpetrators of such dastardly acts.
The only way to restore public trust in the Army is to identify and prosecute those within its ranks who engaged in abuses. The Army should cooperate with investigations, provide access to military records, and assist in prosecuting those responsible. By trying to protect the perpetrators, the Army is harming itself as an institution. It is deepening suspicions about its role in human rights violations.
The Spokesperson for UN Human Rights told ThePrint that his organisation has “sought to engage the Armed Forces throughout the process and look forward to a continued engagement on the report’s findings and recommendations.”
In this light, the Army should cooperate with the OHCHR and weed out the alleged killers and human rights abusers from its rank and file. And before sending a rebuttal to OHCHR-like reports, the Army should undertake an inquiry into the events of July and early August.
Army and politics
The Army has found itself in the proverbial thick soup because some of its members got entangled in politics under Hasina’s rule.
Bangladesh Army has a glorious past—its officers and soldiers were at the forefront of the country’s liberation war. But that role was quickly tainted by a string of coups and counter-coups witnessed in the 1970s and 1980s.
Of late, the Army has earned kudos for its role in UN peacekeeping missions abroad. But with the recent allegations, the question arises— should a force that tortures its own people be allowed to wear the UN’s blue helmet?
The Army should also see this as a lesson—getting involved in politics isn’t a good idea at all. The further it stays away from politics the better it is as an institution.
Ahmede Hussain is a Bangladeshi writer and journalist. He is the editor of The New Anthem: The Subcontinent in Its Own Words (Tranquebar Press; Delhi). He has just finished writing his first novel. He tweets @ahmedehussain. Views are personal.
The article appeared in the theprint