Bangladesh has a ‘very tough job ahead: Irene Khan

Irene Khan, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, said the army, which has formed an interim government after Hasina fled, has a “very tough job ahead”.
“We are all hoping that the transition would be peaceful and that there will be accountability for all the human rights violations that have taken place recently, including the killing of about 300 people in the last three weeks,” Khan told Al Jazeera yesterday.
“Bangladesh has, of course, an enormous task ahead. It is not the poster child of sustainable development anymore. The previous government had driven this country into despair, and there would be a lot of hard work to do to build it up, but most of all, I think it’s extremely important that the army respect human rights.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty’s South Asia researcher Taqbir Huda has told Democracy Now that while Hasina has resigned much of the violence “could have been avoided” if her government was more responsive to the students’ demands.
“Given Bangladesh’s history with military dictatorships … it is really important to stress that this must be a time-bound measure until … [civilian] governance can be reissued,” he added.