B’desh crisis: UN team to arrive in Dhaka on fact-finding mission

Dhaka: A team of UN experts is set to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday to set a framework for the fact-finding mission that will investigate the killings of at least 650 protesters ahead of and in the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as the prime minister earlier this month.

“This is the primary UN team of experts before the UN fact-finding mission comes and investigates (the atrocities). We are expecting to sign an agreement of framework for the probe,” The Daily Star newspaper quoted a UN official based in Dhaka as saying on Wednesday.

The UN team is expected to discuss detailed terms and conditions for investigating all the human rights violations that took place between July 1 and August 15, the official said.

The delegation will stay here for at least a week and meet the civil society groups, victims of human rights violations, students

and government officials and any other actors concerned, the official added.

Foreign ministry officials also confirmed the arrival of the three-member UN team.

Bangladesh descended into chaos after Hasina’s government collapsed and she fled to India on August 5 amid violent protests over quota reforms for government jobs, while the Army stepped in to fill the power vacuum on August 5.

Before that, the anti-government protests had killed more than 500 people since mid-July. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took oath as the Chief Adviser of the interim government on

August 8.