Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, has said the interim government has showed complete disregard for human rights and civil liberties during the last three months of its tenure.

‘What the caretaker government did was illegal and a blatant violation of human rights,’ said Joy in his website.

The interim government has done some good, arresting some of the most corrupt suspects including Tarique Rahman, but very few charges were pressed against them, although three months elapsed since the anti-corruption drive began, he said.

‘Could it be there is no evidence against these people, which means that many of them are actually innocent? Conside-ring that arresting over 100,000 people so far is a gross violation of human rights,’ he commented.

He referred to at least 70 extra-judicial killings by law enforcers in the last three months, and said the present government kept pace with the previous government which was responsible for almost 1,000 custodial deaths.

He also raised question about the seriousness of government’s initiatives to strengthen the Election Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission.

‘The interim government has refused to make Election Commission Secretariat independent of the Prime Minister’s Office! How can you have true independence of the Election Commission if it does not control its own secretariat?’

He was critical of ‘too much’ strengthening of Anti-Corruption Commission, particularly empowering it to arrest anyone without warrant and even seize anyone’s assets.

Joy thanked ‘everyone, especially our party activists and supporters around the world,’ for raising voices against the government’s embargo on Hasina’s return from London.

© The Bangladesh Journal