By NJ Thakuria

Guwahati: Observing the present political turmoil in Bangladesh, where around hundred people got killed and thousands injured, a rights body urged the Sheikh Hasina government in Dhaka ‘to bring an end to human rights violations and establish accountability’.

Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in its latest report tiled

‘Bangladesh: Polarisation, Political Violence & an Undeclared Civil War’, which was released recently , also condemned the insurgent style tactics of the protesters to target civilians across the country.

The series of anti-government violent protest rallies, maintained by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led 20-party alliance demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Hasina’s Awami League (AL) government and also holding of mid-term elections under a neutral caretaker government, have already put the populous country in trouble.

Expressing serious concerns over the use of repressive, excessive and illegal means by the security forces to disperse over 7,000 opposition political party activists,  the ACHR  stated that the under-developed country has reached a point of no return with respect to the unfinished civil war.

Criticizing  the attitude of the protesters in targeting civilians time and again, the rights body reminded the BNP led opposition alliance that the Rome Statue of International Criminal Court, which was ratified by Bangladesh in 2010, may apply to them as well.

The BNP is not a non-descript, marginalised, or scattered opposition or non-State actor. It is one of Bangladesh’s two main political parties and has held power from 1991-1996 and 2001 to 2007. Its call for free & fair elections is also aimed at coming to power again through a credible democratic process,” said a statement issued by the ACHR.

The New Delhi based rights body further stated that ‘a midterm election as the only solution espoused by the BNP is unlikely to deliver either good democratic practice or reduce current levels of violence’. Indeed, it may worsen the situation as Bangladesh  has reached a point of no return, commented the rights body.

Rights violations will continue unchecked and the violence will worsen as long as there is no acknowledgement, leave alone resolution, of what is in effect a civil war between the AL, which has freely used State security and justice systems for political ends, and the Jamaat-e-Islami, which wields influence disproportionate to its size and maintains the capacity and willingness to inflict organized violence on civilians,” added the ACHR statement.