Rab crisis betrays lack of inter-ministerial contact

The US sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) have brought out a rather familiar scene to the fore: frictions among different ministries and stakeholders. We're used to seeing public offices trading metaphorical blows in attempts to ward off blame for any domestic crisis or failure. But the US sanctions have internationalised Rab's image crisis, and thus needed to be handled with care, which did not happen. A report on how the home and foreign ministries were lambasted at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs for their failure to tackle the debacle was quite illuminating. At the meeting, the foreign ministry's top brass blamed the home office for their failure to help them respond to accusations of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, leading to the sanctions. The parliamentary watchdog, on the other hand, blasted the former for "being oblivious to the impending US sanctions on Rab." What's obvious from these narratives is that lack of coordination and inter-ministerial wrangling were partly responsible for creating and prolonging this crisis. This is totally unfortunate.

In our view, the home ministry does share the blame for failing to undertake post-sanction reforms in how Rab operates, as does the foreign ministry for appearing clueless even to this day. Unfortunately, from the very start of this crisis, the government's policy has been reactive rather than constructive, underpinned by a desire to come out of the crisis looking good. It has adopted a PR approach to it and lobbied, unsuccessfully, to lift the sanctions. The foreign minister's admission on Tuesday that he sought India's assistance in lifting the sanctions and even engaged representatives of the Indian diaspora in the US is demeaning to our country, not to mention a diplomatic overreach inconsistent with our national interests. It makes us look weak and leaves room for unwarranted meddling.

The US ambassador in Dhaka has already made it clear that without concrete actions and accountability on Bangladesh's part, the US will not lift its sanctions on Rab. Any illusion that the government may have had about whitewashing its elite force should be gone after that. The government should realise that, instead of seeking a backdoor exit out of the crisis or challenging the allegations against Rab, it should focus on establishing durable mechanisms of accountability within our law enforcement agencies. This will no doubt improve the government's public standing as well. It should also ensure greater coordination and collaboration among different departments and ministries so that any such disaster can be pre-empted. In the end, however, the only outcome that the public really cares about is how respectful our law enforcers are of our laws, and individual rights and dignity.