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04 January 2017•Update: 04 January 2017
By Mainul Islam Khan
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Human rights organizations in Bangladesh have deplored the overall situation in the country, highlighting the fact that justice remains elusive in several cases from 2016.
Alena Khan, chief executive of the nongovernmental Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, expressed concern over the present condition, especially about the reported cases of violence against women.
“There are a number of incidents in which we have been waiting for proper investigation and justice,” Alena Khan told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
Human rights campaigners like Alena Khan said there had been an increase in attacks by militants and incidents of violence against women and children throughout 2016.
A leading human rights group, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), also expressed deep concern over the human rights situation in Bangladesh in its report released on Saturday.
According to ASK report, extrajudicial killings, gunfights, detentions without trial, mass arrests and even custodial deaths occurred during the year.
One of the most pressing issue was the increase in number of militant attacks, including the Holey Artisan bakery attack in the country’s diplomatic zone on July 1, 2016, that left 29 people, including 18 foreigners killed.
‘The ferocity of violence was more than just the number of incidents occurred in 2016," ASK Executive Director Nur Khan said in the report.
Nur Khan said the frequency of attacks could be reduced if such incidents were properly investigated and perpetrators punished.
‘We have talked about judicial investigations for long, but any such attempt is missing,’ he noted.
Also in 2016, at least 10 people were hanged, including two who were sentenced to death for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 war of independence, according to the ASK report.
The same year saw 97 cases of enforced disappearances. Of them, 11 were found to be dead, 26 others were arrested, and three others returned to their families while the rest remain unaccounted for.
At least 415 children were killed in 2016; the number was 133 in 2015. Besides, 22 children committed suicide and 28 other deaths remained a mystery.
The report also expressed alarm over attacks on religious minorities in the country. At least seven Hindus and two Christians were killed in Bangladesh in 2016. Apart from this, at least 197 Hindu temples were vandalized and 194 houses were attacked, the report noted.
