EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

         

 

Human rights image

Time to reform RAB

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), has now come under scathing scrutiny of a New York-based international human rights watch body for its records in extra-judicial killings. It has pointed to the government's failure to control it.

Such observation from an international body has brought ignominy not only for RAB, it has also tarnished the image of the government. Why does government allow itself to be so negatively portrayed in the eyes of the international community, when it is entirely avoidable?

While we are in part appreciative of RAB's role in fighting terrorism, in the same breath we have been decrying its part in extrajudicial killings through so-called 'cross-fires' and disappearances.

But far from taking cognizance of the outcries, the government's reaction to those has been one of denial. The international human rights body's report on RAB has again elicited identical reaction from the government.

Limon's case, for example, is the latest manifestation in the government's sticking to the denial mode. We think such an attitude is highly reprehensible and condemnable.

The government should face facts and immediately conduct enquiry into the accusations of extra-judicial murders and custodial tortures made against RAB and prosecute those found responsible for severe breach of law. The issue is very much RAB's accountability, which will have to be enforced from the top

It is, therefore, time the government take concrete steps to reform RAB.

The government needs to remember that in their electoral manifesto they had committed to putting an end to extra judicial killings.

Saarc angle to food security

Bridge information gap

South Asian nations are faced with problems of rising population and declining farm land in the region. Information sharing on the successes and challenges of agriculture and food security among the Saarc countries can help reduce risks associated with population boom and receding arable lands in the region.

Experts at a regional workshop in Dhaka have observed that the countries in the region have individually succeeded in developing better varieties of crops and vegetables and adopting effective disaster management techniques. Now they need to share the respective experiences on the basis of complementarities.

The information sharing assumes a critical dimension with the threat of climate related challenges that call for adaptation measures. The countries in South Asia share common rivers and are also littoral states to the Indian Ocean. So far as floods and cyclones are concerned they can develop and share early warning systems.

Flow of information on methods of cultivation and crop safety procedures as well as sharing market information on prices, products and inputs among the farmers, consumers and businesses can be components of a very useful Saarc strategy on agriculture and food security.

Time has come to remove barriers to free-flow of information among Saarc countries. For this will not only keep the countries informed about ground-breaking developments of hybrid crops in the region it will also educate their farmers about the time and process of cultivation and harvest. The shared network should also encompass information on plant diseases and livestock treatment.

An information network with a data bank should be set up sooner rather than later on agriculture and food security including data sharing about disaster forecasting and management. In other words, we should move from deliberation to an institutional base for sharing information and experiences within the Saarc region.