Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance member Nur Khan Liton on Saturday said that it would not be appropriate for the government to keep the Rapid Action Battalion.
鈥極ur stance over disbanding RAB is clear 鈥� such a force can never serve the people. It will not be appropriate to keep such a force that is known as a killer force in society,鈥� he said while talking to reporters after attending a mass gathering programme in Rajshahi.
Mayer Daak, a platform of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing victims鈥� family members, organised the mass gathering at Lalon Shah Muktamancha in the city where victims of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing and their family members shared their tragic experiences.
Nur Khan Liton hoped that the government would take a decision on disbanding the RAB considering the present reality.
The human rights activist also said that the work of police should be carried out by the police itself, not other forces as 鈥榳e think the involvement of the army in police work creates new problems.鈥�
Among others, commission members Sazzad Hossain and Nabila Idris, Rajshahi University pro-vice chancellor (academic) Farid Uddin Khan, and Mayer Daak coordinator Sanjida Islam Tuli addressed the mass gathering.
Earlier on December 14, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury submitted its report titled 鈥楿nfolding the truth鈥� to chief adviser Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house in the capital Dhaka.
The commission in its report stated that it found prima facie involvement of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Haisna and some high-ranking officials of security forces and her government, including her defence adviser retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique in enforced disappearances.
The commission also recommended disbanding the RAB, two days after the elite force offered public apology for the extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and all other misdeeds it had perpetrated since its establishment in 2004.
According to rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, 3,973 people were killed in reported crossfire and encounters with members of law enforcement and security agencies or died in their custody between January 2004 and June 2024.
Of them, 1,286 people were killed in reported gunfights with the RAB or in its custody, as reported by the elite force, the ASK data showed.
According to the ASK data, the RAB and police are jointly accused of killing 94 people during the same period.
On December 10, 2021, the United States Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the RAB for human rights abuse.
