Bangladesh’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting has defended the government’s handling of mass protests, as UN experts called for an independent investigation into the government’s deadly crackdown on demonstrators.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Mohammad Arafat said the country’s security forces had done everything they could to “restore peace” amid student protests.
He accused “third party” actors, including “extremists and terrorists”, of instigating the unrest.
“We are not referring to students [sebagai] terrorists and anarchists. It was a third party, those who infiltrated this movement and started doing all this,” Arafat said on Talk to Al Jazeera.
“We have tried our best to defuse the tension,” he added, adding that “some people are trying to add fuel to the fire, trying to create a situation where they can take advantage … and bring down the government”.
Thousands of Bangladeshi students took to the streets this month to demand reform of the South Asian nation’s quota system that allocates 30% of government jobs to descendants of veterans who fought for Bangladesh in the 1971 war.
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More than 150 student protesters have been killed and thousands more arrested in the crackdown on the demonstrations, according to local media, stoking tensions in the country of more than 170 million people.
Protests turned violent on July 15 after members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) allegedly attacked demonstrators.
Police then cracked down on the demonstrations and imposed a curfew. Students were asked to leave universities, which were then closed; businesses were closed, and internet access was disrupted across the country.
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The Bangladesh government has come under international scrutiny for its handling of the protests.
On Thursday, UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for a “fair, independent and transparent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations” that occurred during the crackdown.
“We understand that many people have experienced violent attacks by groups reportedly linked to the Government, and no effort has been made to protect them,” Turk said.
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In a separate statement, a group of UN experts also called for an independent investigation into what they called the government’s “violent crackdown on protesters”.
“The government blames others, others blame the government; we need a fully impartial investigation,” one of the experts, Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, told Al Jazeera.
“But since there is no trust in the government, the investigation must be done with the help of the international community,” Khan said Thursday.
“We call on the government to invite the UN to conduct such an investigation to find out what went wrong, take responsibility and prosecute the perpetrators.”
The official death toll has not been determined.
In his interview with Talk to Al Jazeera, Arafat – the minister – condemned protesters who stormed the headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television (BTV) in the capital, Dhaka.
He said police guarding the building were outnumbered, and “because they were not allowed to shoot … the trespassers entered BTV, completely stormed it, and burned and destroyed all the assets.”
Arafat said the government had not yet determined the official number of casualties from the unrest.
“When it comes to casualties, injuries and deaths, we are not willing to differentiate between police and the general public, or protesters, or government supporters,” he said.
The minister told Al Jazeera the independent judicial committee would ensure a thorough investigation into what happened, “so that everyone responsible for any of these victims can be held accountable.”
Arafat also rejected calls for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign, adding that he was only “protecting the people.”
On Tuesday, protesters extended their suspension of protests until Friday, but they are scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss whether they will extend the pause further.
Among their main demands is that Hasina publicly apologize for the killing of students.
They also called for Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and Law Minister Anisul Haque to resign from the cabinet and the party. (Al Jazeera/Z-3)
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