Home Minister rejects HRW report on APBN

Staff Reporter :
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, “What Human Rights Watch has said about APBN, I think, is not based on facts. They should do these reports with better investigation.”
The Home Minister made the remarks while speaking to newsmen on the founding anniversary of ‘Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee’ at the Abdul Karim Sahithabisharad Auditorium of Bangla Academy on Thursday afternoon (Jan 19).
The minister said: “We always said Rohingyas are a burden on us. They left everything and came here. They can be tempted by any offer and any incident can occur. They are involved in yaba dealings, they also sell drugs inside the camp. They killed a DGFI official.”
“What Human Watch said about APBN is not factual. They should prepare a report more carefully,” said the minister.
On January 17, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch alleged that Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion (APBn) is involved in extorting, arbitrarily arresting, and harassing Rohingyas inside the refugee camps.
The HRW in their report said, “Donors should press for end to Extortion, Harassment by Armed Police Battalion”.
The released report said, Armed Police Battalion took over security in the Rohingya camps in July 2020. Refugees and humanitarian workers report that safety has deteriorated under the APBn’s oversight due to increased police abuses as well as criminal activity. Some refugees allege collusion between APBn officers and armed groups and gangs operating in the camps.
“Abuses by police in the Cox’s Bazar camps have left Rohingya refugees suffering at the hands of the very forces who are supposed to protect them,” said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Bangladesh authorities should immediately investigate allegations of widespread extortion and wrongful detention by Armed Police Battalion officers and hold all those responsible to account,” read the report.
The HRW interviewed more than 40 Rohingya refugees in October and November 2022 and reviewed police reports, documenting more than 16 cases of serious abuse by APBn officers. These included abuses against 10 refugees who were detained on apparently fabricated grounds for trafficking yaba, a methamphetamine drug, or for violence-related offenses. Human Rights Watch and others have long documented the common practice by Bangladesh security forces of framing suspects with drugs or weapons, the report also said.