Bangladesh’s State Minister for Information and Broadcasting has defended the government’s handling of massive protests, while UN experts have called for an independent investigation into the government’s deadly crackdown on protesters.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Mohammed Arafat said the country’s security forces had made every effort “to bring back peace” amid the student protests.
He accused “third parties”, including “extremists and terrorists”, of fomenting unrest.
“We are not talking about students [as] “It is this third party that is infiltrating this movement and starting to do all this,” Arafat said. Talk to Al Jazeera.
“We tried our best to defuse tensions”, he said, adding that “some people were trying to add fuel to the fire, trying to create a situation where they can take advantage… and topple the government”.
Thousands of Bangladeshi students took to the streets earlier this month demanding reforms to the South Asian country’s quota system, which allocates 30 percent of government jobs to descendants of veterans who fought for Bangladesh in the 1971 war.
More than 150 student protesters have been killed and thousands arrested in a crackdown on demonstrations, according to local media, raising tensions across the country of more than 170 million people.
The protests turned violent on July 15 when members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) – the student wing of the country’s ruling party – allegedly attacked protesters.
Police then cracked down on the protests and imposed a curfew. Students were asked to vacate universities, which were shut down; businesses were closed and internet access was disrupted across the country.
The Bangladeshi government has come under international scrutiny over its handling of the protests.
On Thursday, the UN human rights chief Volker Turk said For “fair, independent and transparent investigations into all alleged human rights violations” that occurred during the repression.
“We understand that a number of people were subjected to violent attacks by groups allegedly affiliated with the government, and no efforts were made to protect them,” Turk said.
one of Separate statementsA group of UN experts has called for an independent investigation into the government’s violent crackdown on protesters.
“The government is blaming other people, others are blaming the government; we need a full, impartial investigation,” one of the experts, Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, told Al Jazeera.
“But since there is no trust in the government, this work will have to be done with the international community,” Khan said on Thursday.
“We urge the government to invite the United Nations to conduct such an investigation to find out what went wrong, take responsibility and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
The death toll has not been officially determined yet: Minister
In your interview Talk to Al JazeeraMinister Arafat condemned protesters for storming the headquarters of state-run broadcaster Bangladesh Television (BTV) in the capital, Dhaka.
He said the number of policemen deployed to guard the building was less and “because they were not allowed to shoot… the rioters went inside BTV, literally attacked and started setting fire and vandalising and destroying all the property”.
Arafat said the government had not yet determined the official death toll in the unrest.
He said, “When it comes to casualties, injuries and deaths, we are not willing to discriminate between the police and civilians, or protesters, or supporters of the government.”
The minister told Al Jazeera that an independent judicial committee would ensure a thorough investigation of what happened, “so that all those responsible for these accidents can be punished.”
Arafat rejected any demands for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, saying she was only “protecting the people”.
On Tuesday, protesters postponed their protest until Friday, but were scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss whether they would continue.
Their key demands include that Hasina must publicly apologise for the killing of the students.
He also demanded Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nofel and Law Minister Anisul Haque to resign from the cabinet and the party.
