Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday said Bangladesh has been recognised as a model in tackling militancy.

The minister came up with the remark at a views exchange programme with members of law enforcement agencies in the officers’ club of Jamalpur.

He said police have made much improvement in the last 12 years.

“They have been able to gain the people’s trust. It has been possible for them to tackle militancy as general people were with them,” the minister said, noting that policemen breaking the law are being punished.

“We can brag about our police force,” he said, urging everyone to work together to create a beautiful Bangladesh for the future generations.

Leaders of Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) Chattogram unit said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s condition is worsening gradually.

She is suffering from various ailments, they said. Her condition will be aggravated if proper treatment is not provided on time.

They alleged that the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) authorities concealed the actual condition at the behest of the government to prevent the BNP chief from getting bail.

The leaders came up with the remarks while attending a press conference on Khaleda’s latest update at Chattogram Metropolitan Union of Journalists in Love Lane of the city.

DAB leader Dr Md Foyezur Rahman also accused BSMMU of giving out contradictory information on Khaleda’s treatment.

The cycle of violence against ethnic and religious groups in Myanmar will never end without accountability for the systematic killings, rape, sexual violence and other atrocities committed against the Rohingya, said Thailand’s former MP and Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Kasit Piromya.

Former Cambodian MP and APHR Board Member Mu Sochua said it is “saddening and still a little bewildering” for many of them across this region that a former democracy champion, and someone they spent years defending the rights of, has sought to stall and subvert any genuine efforts to address accusations of serious human rights violations under her government and is now herself defending allegations of genocide at the ICJ.

Parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia today welcomed the first hearing in the case against Myanmar at the UN’s highest court as an initial step towards justice and possible recognition of the crime of genocide committed against the Rohingya.

The second day hearing on provisional measures is being held in The Hague, Netherlands, at which a delegation from Myanmar is being headed by Aung San Suu Kyi herself.

“This marks the start of a monumental effort for justice that could put an end to some of the horrific abuses that the Rohingya are facing,” said Kasit Piromya.

The hearing follows The Gambia’s request for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order provisional measures as “a matter of extreme urgency” requiring Myanmar to take – among others – measures to prevent ongoing genocidal acts.

Backed by 57 member states of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), The Gambia filed a case last month at the ICJ against Myanmar for violating provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to which Myanmar has been a party to since 1956.

The Gambia case follows findings from the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar which recommended Myanmar be brought before the ICJ after it found that Myanmar had committed “genocidal acts” during the  2017 “clearance operations” that killed thousands and caused more than 740,000 Rohingyas to flee for their lives to Bangladesh.

 Approximately one million Rohingya refugees are currently living in Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh.

“On International Human Rights Day today, we emphasize that ensuring accountability is a critical move, but not the only one that Myanmar must take. We have consistently supported the calls from the Rohingya themselves for the Myanmar authorities to lift all restrictions against them, restore their basic rights, including citizenship rights, and ensure their safety and security so that they can return to their homes and live normal lives,” said Charles Santiago, a Member of Parliament of Malaysia, and APHR Board Chair.

Numerous restrictions, including those on citizenship rights, freedom of movement, and access to education and healthcare, continue to be placed upon the Rohingya in Myanmar.

APHR urges Myanmar to take immediate action to guarantee these rights for the Rohingya and again called on the international community to do all in its power to ensure the Rohingya living in Myanmar have their rights restored and that those in Bangladesh are able to return to their homes free from persecution or threats, and with their rights fully restored.

BNP on Wednesday alleged that the government is trying to submit a different report on Khaleda Zia’s health condition before the Supreme Court changing the one made by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University authorities.

“The medical board’s report sought by the court is yet to come. We came to know that steps are being taken to submit a different report (before the court on Khaleda’s health) by removing the report the BSMMU authorities have already prepared,” said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

He came up with the remarks while speaking at a seminar arranged by BNP at a city hotel on the country’s human right situation, marking the International Human Rights Day.  Diplomats from 15 countries, including the USA, the UK, India, Pakistan, Russia and the European Union, were present at the programme.

The BNP leader said the government is working very carefully to unfairly prolong their party Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s stay in jail. “They’re violating human rights by doing so.”

 On Thursday last, the Appellate Division deferred until December 12 (tomorrow) the hearing on Khaleda’s bail petition in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

The court also asked the medical board, formed by the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) to treat Khaleda Zia, to submit a report on her health condition within December 12. The board failed to present the report on December 5 as per the directive given on November 28.

Khaleda has been in jail after being convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was found guilty in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated. The BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the BSMMU since April 1 this year.

Fakhrul said the BSMMU medical board in its report on November 30 said Khaleda has been at a ‘crippling stage’ and she needs much better treatment. “The Supreme Court asked the authorities to submit this report, but it’s yet to be presented.”

He alleged that Khaleda Zia has been kept in in jail ‘unlawfully’ for nearly 20 months in false cases while she has long been denied bail.

The BNP leader said other people convicted in such cases are freed on bail, but Khaleda has not been granted that due to various ‘obstructions’ by the government.

About the country’s human rights situation, Fakhrul said Bangladesh never witnessed such ‘horrible’ condition in the past.

He said around 35 lakh people were made accused in about 1.48 lakh cases over the last 10 years just because of political reasons.

The BNP leader claimed that 1,526 opposition leaders and activists were killed by the ‘ruling party men’ over the last 10 years while 781 people, including 423 BNP leaders and activists, were made disappeared.

He bemoaned that children are crying for their disappeared fathers while the mothers for their missing sons in the country which was liberated 49 years back. “A suffocating situation has been prevailing across the country while people have lost their basic rights.”

As the government ‘usurped’ power through resorting to ‘vote robbery’, Fakhrul alleged that it is trying to hang onto power indulging in unlawful acts.

He said the government is making efforts to fool people with a myth development and false information. “Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen rightly said development won’t be sustainable without democracy. There’s no democracy now in Bangladesh and people here have no right.”

The BNP leader called upon people of all walks of life to get united to ‘restore’ their rights and democracy by ousting the current government through a movement.

BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, noted economist Prof Mahbub Ullah and Gonoshasthya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, among others, addressed the programme.

Pakistan’s acting High Commissioner Shah Faisal Kakar spoke at the programme highlighting the steps taken by the government of his country in protecting human rights.

He also talked about the human rights condition in Kashmir after the Indian government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

As Faisal Kakar was making long statements, Mirza Fakhrul interrupted him twice requesting to cut his statement short.

Nirapad Sarak Chai (Nischa) founder Ilias Kanchan on Wednesday gave Shajahan Khan 24 hours to apologise for accusing him of embezzling foreign funds for his road safety movement.

He also threatened to take legal action against the former minister if he does not apologise or fail to provide any evidence supporting his claim within this time frame.

He came up with these remarks at a press conference at Abdus Salam Hall of National Press Club.

Kanchan claimed that the movement does not get any financial support from abroad.

“For the first 12 years after the establishment of Nischa, we ran it with our own money, and then registered it as a NGO in 2015 for the betterment of works. We run our organisational works only from the donation of its members,” he said.

At a programme in Narayanganj on Dec 8, Shajahan, the executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, claimed that Kanchan received crores in foreigners' donations for Nischa.

He accused the Nischa founder of investing the money in several businesses and schools.