‘Over 1K dead in crackdown on protests in Bangladesh’

Geneva: The UN human rights office on Wednesday estimated that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over six weeks last summer in a crackdown on student-led protests against the now-ousted former prime minister.

In a new report, the Geneva-based office says security and intelligence services “systematically engaged” in rights violations that

could amount to crimes against humanity and require further investigation. Citing “various credible sources”,

the rights office says as many as 1,400 people may have been killed in the protests between July 1 and

August 15, and thousands more were injured, “the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces”.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk cited signs that “extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture” were conducted with the knowledge and coordination of the political leadership and top security officials as a way to suppress the protests.

Meanwhile, a group of protesters stormed a book stall in Dhaka over the display of books by exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, prompting Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus to order a probe into the “disorderly behaviour”, according to a media report

The incident took place on Monday at the publishing house Sabyasachi Prokashoni stall at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair, Bdnews24 reported.

The incident unfolded on the 10th day of the fair when a group under the banner of “Towhidi Janata” stormed the Sabyasachi Prokashoni stall at Suhrawardy Udyan over the display of books by exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, the report added.

The group surrounded the publisher and chanted slogans, prompting police to intervene and take Sabyasachi publisher Shatabdi Vobo into their control room to restore order, it said. However, the protesters then encircled the police control room, keeping tensions high.