Shahriar Alam has said the government will not bow down to external pressure amid concerns of Dhaka-based foreign diplomats over reports of political violence and violation of human rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, in Bangladesh, bdnews24.com reports.
The state minister for foreign affairs also warned the foreign diplomats against meddling at a Human Rights Day seminar organised by the foreign ministry at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Sunday.
Besides Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Law Minister Anisul Huq, representatives of almost all the foreign missions in Dhaka attended the seminar on the ‘Promotion and Protection of Human Rights: Bangladesh Perspective’, where Shahriar presented the keynote.
The state minister said the Awami League led the birth of the nation and has a history of lifelong struggles of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his daughter Sheikh Hasina against authoritarian regimes of Pakistan and later Bangladesh.
“This journey continues, and our leader Sheikh Hasina will not bend down to any external pressure to derail the nation from its constitutional path towards democracy and fundamental freedom,” Shahriar remarked.
He said the source of her government’s power is the mass people of this country. “And the people will determine who will rule this nation. Neither any external power nor any internal conspiracy will be able to determine this.”
Mentioning the recent joint statement by 15 diplomatic missions in Dhaka, Shahriar said: “I would call upon the concerned foreign Missions in Dhaka to abide by diplomatic norms and etiquette that they themselves expect from foreign missions in their country to practice.
“The government of Bangladesh is patient and cordial to our foreign guests and is sincerely willing to maintain friendly relations to all nations, but we do have some red lines.”
Foreign Minister Momen said: “The Bangladesh Awami League and its government rely solely on the will of the people, no external interference or internal conspiracies can derail us from this undertaking.”
Law Minister Anisul claimed the government has always focused on the best practices and also the enactment of laws which not only ensures human dignity but also gives the message that in Bangladesh human rights will be protected to its hilt.
“I would humbly but firmly state that our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government remain committed to establishing the high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism and make sure the wish of our people is reflected in every sphere of life in Bangladesh.”
‘FUGITIVES, NOT VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE’
Shahriar said the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has published records of more than 59,000 cases of enforced disappearances across 110 countries since 1980.
“The list includes countries who claim themselves to be the torchbearers of human rights. There are countries to which thousands of such cases were referred by the Working Group, whereas to many other countries, hundreds of such cases were communicated by the Group.”
He said “only” 76 cases of enforced disappearances were communicated to Bangladesh by the Working Group.
One of the cases took place 28 years ago when the Awami League government was not in power, Shahriar said.
As many as 10 others have reappeared and 28 are fugitive from justice as they had murder cases against them, according to him.
Police did not receive any feedback from the families of 10 of the rest on the list, he claimed.
“No other government took the initiative to engage with the Working Group. We have initiated constructive engagement with the Working Group and we regularly share information on these cases to the Working Group.”