{"id":122104,"date":"2022-01-13T17:15:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T00:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122104"},"modified":"2022-01-13T17:15:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T00:15:12","slug":"is-the-us-right-in-sanctioning-rab-in-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/13\/is-the-us-right-in-sanctioning-rab-in-bangladesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the US right in sanctioning RAB in Bangladesh?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jubeda Chowdhury from Dhaka, Bangladesh<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Although\nthe RAB has paid a heavy price in its campaign against terrorists and drug\nsmugglers, the US has unfairly imposed sanctions against the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nmajor obstacle to Bangladesh\u2019s progress has traditionally been a volatile law\nand order situation, which forced the government to form an elite force to make\nthe police more dynamic and effective. This is how the Rapid Action Battalion\n(RAB) began its journey on March 26, 2004. Its operational activities started\non June 21 that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since\nits birth, the RAB has been fighting terrorism and those involved in drug\ntrafficking. If the United States aims to curb illegal human trafficking and\ncriminal activity, this is precisely what the RAB is doing in Bangladesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nthe verdict in seven murder cases in Narayanganj on January 19, 2017, the US\nwanted Bangladesh to abolish RAB, calling it an “in-house death\nsquad”. The government was criticized for alleged involvement in\nextrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances. Twenty-five members of RAB\nhave been convicted for the murders in Narayanganj. Of them, 16 were sentenced\nto death and nine to various terms of imprisonment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due\nto this aberration, there is a tendency to underestimate the achievements of\nRAB. But its success is more than just a measure of failure. It is also playing\na special role in suppressing traditional crimes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto media reports, RAB has so far arrested 1,200 criminals and rescued more than\n1,000 victims of human trafficking. About 16,000 firearms and 2.5 million\nrounds of ammunition have been seized from terrorists and arms dealers. Some\n13,000 armed terrorists have been arrested. Also, it has taken into custody\nmore than 500 Sundarbans-centric pirates and bandits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto law enforcement agencies, drugs have been behind many crimes including\ntheft, robbery, smuggling and use of illegal weapons all over the country\nincluding Dhaka. The RAB has a zero-tolerance policy against drugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto RAB statistics, the force has arrested about 55,000 drug dealers since May 3,\n2016 — and 1.5 lakh since its inception. It has seized drugs worth Rs 3,000\ncrore including Yaba tablets (most commonly used in Bangladesh), heroin and\nphencidyl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yaba\nis mostly smuggled from Myanmar. Regular operations are carried out against\nYaba traders in and around Cox’s Bazar. Since militants killed 20 people,\nincluding 17 foreigners, in an attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery (Spanish\nrestaurant) in Dhaka in July 2016, the RAB has played an effective role against\nmilitancy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto RAB sources, it has conducted 241 anti-militant operations since then,\narresting 809 militants and killing 25 in gun battles. In addition, seven\nmilitants have surrendered. All activities of the militants are\nmonitored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAB\nDirector General Benazir Ahmed said: “We are trying to prevent the\nmilitants from trying to incite people by misinterpreting the Holy Quran and\nits verses. We are trying to convey the correct interpretation of various\nverses of the Holy Quran to the people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nRAB has paid a heavy price in its campaign against criminals. Twenty-seven\npersonnel have lost their lives. More than 1,000 have been maimed in various\noperations. Another 2,000 have been injured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\ndue to the success of RAB’s campaigns, militancy and terrorism have come down\nto virtually zero in the whole country. The Sundarbans have been freed from\npiracy. No wonder, RAB officials have received various medals and\nrecognition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nthe US in December imposed human rights-related sanctions on RAB and seven of\nits current and former officials, accusing them of involvement in hundreds of\nenforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings since 2009. One of the\nsanctioned officers is Benazir Ahmed, the Inspector General of Bangladesh\nPolice. Most Bangladeshis feel that the US action is wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jubeda Chowdhury from Dhaka, Bangladesh Although the RAB has paid a heavy price in its campaign against terrorists and drug smugglers, the US has unfairly imposed sanctions against the group. A major obstacle to Bangladesh\u2019s progress has traditionally been a volatile law and order situation, which forced the government to form an elite force to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}