No incident of extrajudicial killing now : FM

Staff Reporter :
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said that there was no incident of extrajudicial killing in the country now though such incident happened in the past.
He also said if the government gets any information pertaining to extrajudicial killing, it would carry out investigation.
He made the remarks after holding from a bilateral meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in the State Guest House Padma in the capital.
“They (UN representatives) did not ask us about extrajudicial killing. It is said that some people have been killed. It used to happen here in the years 2000-2003. People used to die of heart failure then but there is no heart failure,” he added.
He, however, said, “If we get any such information, we will investigate it,” he said adding that American police kill 1000 people every year.
Brushing aside the allegation of enforced disappearance, the Foreign Minister said, “Some people say that some 76 people have been missing and it has been committed by the government. Of these people, 10 people have been found. We don’t know about the rest of the people.”
“When the government asks information about those missing people, the family members don’t cooperate because of fear. We don’t have information about those people,” he added.
Talking about the media freedom, he said, “They (UN) think that our media does not enjoy freedom. Nobody can speak out. I have said to them that I don’t know about it. I see that our media is very strong,” he added.
“Our government does not impose any sensor over the media. The government does not have so power. I have told them many media is registered here and some 2800 newspapers are published here,” he noted.
While talking about the media freedom, the minister recalled his recent comments that Bangladeshi people are living in paradise compared with other countries.
“I did not want to mean it in the true sense. But you (media) have kept me at bay. Have I undermined the freedom of the media? After all I am a political figure. You can certainly criticise me. I don’t mind. But I have to be careful in future,” he said.

“I am a teacher and I talk frankly what I mean. My party has also talked to me. I need to talk well while I am in a position,” he continued.

Asked about the meeting, he said that they talked about various issues including the Rohingya crisis.

The minister said that UN is very anxious about the Rohingya issue and expressed their commitment to address the issue.