Calls For Restraint As Bangladesh Drug War Claims 11 More Lives
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published May 22, 2018 | 03:06 PM
Bangladesh police on Tuesday shot dead nearly a dozen more alleged drug dealers officials said, as its no-holds barred offensive drew accusations of murder from rights groups and opposition parties
Dhaka, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd May, 2018 ) :Bangladesh police on Tuesday shot dead nearly a dozen more alleged drug dealers officials said, as its no-holds barred offensive drew accusations of murder from rights groups and opposition parties.
At least 33 people have been gunned down in late-night shootouts since Bangladesh declared an all-out war on drugs a week ago. The country has been struggling to contain a surging trade in illegal drugs, most notably methamphetamine pills known as "yaba" that are being sold by the hundreds of millions.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to fight the "drug menace" with the same intensity as a previous campaign that pursued homegrown militants and left dozens of Islamic radicals dead. Police said four "top drug dealers" were gunned down in the rural districts of Comilla and Nilphamari, and seven more were killed elsewhere in Bangladesh.
But the country's main opposition party the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said one of its student activists, Amjad Hossain, had been unjustly targeted in one of the sweeps. Police in the northern district of Netrokona told AFP that Hossain was a prominent dealer facing 13 charges related to drugs and violence.
"He was illegally murdered in cold blood," BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed told AFP. The opposition welcomed the push against drugs, Ahmed said, but feared the crackdown could also be used as a "witch hunt against anti-government activists" before a general election in December.
Rights activists also described the killings -- all conducted late at night -- as questionable and showing disregard for the court system.
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