The continued incidents of "crossfire" killings are in violation of human rights and the constitution, Rashed Khan Menon MP, president of Workers Party of Bangladesh, and a member of the ruling coalition, said on Monday. Menon, who also heads a parliamentary standing committee, blamed Rapid Action Battalion, other law enforcers and "concerned government officials", saying there was no proof that those who had died in crossfire killings were all "militants" as reported.

A total of 97 people died in "crossfire/encounter/shootout" incidents with law-enforcing agencies or in their custody between Jan 1-Sep 30 this year, according to human rights watchdog Odhikar. Asked about such killings, while exchanging views with media in Noakhali on Monday, Menon said, "We, the Workers Party, are as ever opposed to extra-judicial killings."

"Grand alliance leader and prime minister Sheikh Hasina herself has opposed the crossfire as well," said Menon, who heads the standing committee on education and whose party belongs to the ruling Awami League-led alliance. "Even after that, these killings by crossfire continuing one after another has tainted the image of the government." The number of people killed in such incidents, identified after death by law enforcers as "miltants" and "extremists", appears unabated despite continued criticism by human rights organisations. The shooting incidents are commonly reported as 'crossfire' in the media, a term which has come to imply 'suspicious' or extra-judicial killings.

International and local rights groups, including Amnesty International, US-based Human Rights Watch, Transparency International, Bangladesh and Odhikar, over past years have frequently expressed concern over the rate of extra-judicial killings in Bangladesh. Home minister Sahara Khatun and her deputy Shamsul Huq Tuku, however, have claimed that no extra-judicial killings were taking place. They have said that law enforcers only fire when under attack, in self defence.

The High Court on June 29 ordered the government to explain why killings without trial in so-called crossfire or encounters should not be declared illegal. It also asked why departmental and criminal actions should not be taken against those who perpetrate such killings in or out of custody. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina herself announced in February this year that the extrajudicial killings perpetrated during the tenure of the military-installed interim government would be investigated.

-bdnews