No such thing as ‘enforced disappearance’ in Bangladesh: Momen

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said the objective of the ongoing propaganda against Bangladesh is to take advantage through putting pressure.

"The real objective is not the (protection of) human rights. Rather, it is to take advantages through pressures," the minister said while talking to reporters at a hotel in Dhaka.

He said there had been some accidents in which they did not get proper information and there is no such thing as enforced disappearance in the country. "We don't want to see anyone taken away by force. We want everyone to be gone by the law." 

"Some people alleged being harassed after police went to talk to them about their missing family members. That's why now police do not talk to them," said the foreign minister.

The minister said they have asked law enforcers to hold a meeting with those families in the presence of media personnel, where they can share information.

Around a thousand people are killed extra-judicially every year and over one lakh people go missing in the US, the minister said.

"We do not want a single person to be the victim of extra-judicial killings or enforced disappearance. Sometimes various terrorist groups do this. It happens in all the countries of the world, more or less. This happens the least in Bangladesh compared to other countries," he added.

Bangladesh has become an eyesore for some as it is geopolitically in a good position, said the minister. It is surrounded by large countries and its access to the sea has become a big concern for them, he said. 

The foreign minister also said, many experts want to say Bangladesh has fallen into the debt trap of China like Sri Lanka.

The total debt of Bangladesh is nearly 16 percent. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a country will cross the danger mark if its external debts exceed 40 percent, he said.

"We do not delay in debt payment," he said.