Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Thursday (1 August) said the government first wants to see the outcome of the investigation being carried out by the judicial inquiry commission instead of engaging anything parallel to that.
“We want them (Commission) to work and complete their process. At this moment, we don’t want something separate or anything parallel to that,” Masud told reporters after briefing the development partners at a state guesthouse.
PM's Press Secretary M Nayeemul Islam Khan, who also joined the briefing, told a reporter that no question was raised on whether the situation would affect intra-country relations. Rather they (development partners) are showing full-confidence on this perspective.
The foreign secretary, however, said they will surely consider taking technical-related assistance from the United Nations to that end.
“We are hopeful that they (Inquiry Commission) will fairly, impartially and transparently investigate each incident to hold the responsible persons accountable and bring them to justice,” Masud said.
Masud’s comments came after UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said his office is also available to deploy an independent fact-finding team, which would assist in building trust among all stakeholders and to help de-escalate tensions.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said the United Nations and any country can send their experts for proper investigation of every incident of violence related to the quota reform movement.
“I want everything to be investigated. Because, it needs to be found out what happened behind it and how these happened. I’ve appealed to the United Nations to send their experts. If any other country wants, they can send their experts too,” she said.
The foreign secretary said the government already responded to the 14 foreign missions who wrote to Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud recently.
“We have addressed their issues in the reply,” he said, adding that today the development partners wanted to know more about freedom of assembly, and wanted to know whether any force is being applied or anyone is arrested.
Masud Momen said there was no problem where people were protesting peacefully but there were some problems in some places where the people tried to create disruptions going beyond peaceful atmosphere.
Earlier, he said the judicial inquiry commission has been tasked to investigate the whole period expanding the terms and conditions from the initial decision.
The government said it remains committed to “hold accountable” through proper investigation all those responsible for each incident of death among students and the ensuing terrorist acts involving killings, arson, vandalism, subversion and sabotage.
Asked about shootings, Masud said the incidents of opening fires by the law enforcement agencies were a few and there were issues of self-defence.
Responding to a question, the foreign secretary said the Turkish ambassador in Dhaka met him as their deputy foreign minister is scheduled to visit Bangladesh.
“They had confusion and we said we are open,” he said, adding that the Turkish minister will come any day between August 20-24.
The foreign secretary on Wednesday said the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) did not open fire from helicopters though fake information was being circulated.
He said they have received video evidence that the RAB did not open fire from helicopters which they will share. "We became sure that RAB didn't open fires from helicopters."
“Finally, things will be cleared through proper investigation. We want fair investigation into each death,” said the foreign secretary on Thursday.
Videos related to the violence were also shown to the diplomats.
"We have presented the latest information to them and shown videos. As we have reported, the RAB did not fire from the helicopter. Besides, I have highlighted the role of BGB and police during the movement. We have provided the video to them also,” the foreign secretary said.
Diplomats from 22 countries including the United Kingdom, United States, China, Japan, Sweden, Qatar, Denmark, Switzerland, India, Russia, Canada, Australia, France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, European Union, and the representatives from the United Nations attended the briefing.
