‘Warning, not punishment’
The US is attaching high importance on human rights and they perceive that the law enforcers in Bangladesh have violated human rights in some cases and that those need corrections. They hope that Bangladesh will make the corrections.
The US sanctions on Rab and seven of its current and former officials were not meant to punish Bangladesh but to warn on human rights, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said referring to his meeting with outgoing US Ambassador Earl R Miller yesterday.
"I had a meeting with him [Earl Miller] for quite some time. He said the US sanctions on the law enforcers were not aimed at punishing Bangladesh, but to warn us," he told reporters at the ministry.
Summarising the discussion details with Miller, Razzaque said the US is attaching high importance on human rights and they perceive that the law enforcers in Bangladesh have violated human rights in some cases and that those need corrections. They hope that Bangladesh will make the corrections.
In response to Miller's observations, the minister said it was regretful that the US has put Bangladesh on the same category of North Korea and Myanmar.
"I said the human rights situation in Bangladesh is good. No human rights violations have happened here," Abdur Razzaque said. However, law enforcement agencies may have made mistakes in some cases, and 190 Rab officials faced punishment for that.
Earl Miller, who is returning to the US after his more than three years of tenure here, will be discussing the issue with the higher authorities in Washington so that the sanction is withdrawn, the minister said.
Razzaque and Miller also discussed the issues of agriculture, economy, global and regional issues.
He said the US and Bangladesh has cooperation on agriculture for long. The US has significantly supported the agricultural research system development in Bangladesh.
Miller said Bangladesh is the 26th market for US agricultural products and the cooperation between the two countries on agriculture will increase in the coming days.
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