‘RAB to be renamed’

Staff Reporter :

The elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is being restructured with a new name, announced Home Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.

The adviser made this statement in response to a question from journalists following a meeting of the Law and Order Advisory Committee at the Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon.

He said, “There have been discussions regarding the reorganization of the force, including the potential change in the name of RAB. The name may be finalized in the next meeting, but what the new name will be is still under discussion.”

RAB was formed in 2004 as an elite force tasked with combating terrorism and militant activities. However, the force later faced allegations of involvement in several serious human rights violations, including the seven murders in Narayanganj, cases of enforced disappearances, and other violations.

The United States imposed sanctions on RAB during the Awami League government over these allegations. According to the Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances, formed by the interim government, RAB was implicated in 172 out of 400 disappearance cases.