Foreign ministry asked to respond to US sanctions with accurate info
On 10 December last year, the US State Department imposed sanctions on RAB and seven of its former and current officials
The cabinet committee on law and order has instructed the foreign ministry to reach out to the USA with accurate information to undo the US sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion and some of its top officials last year over human rights issues.
"The US move on Bangladesh security agencies, based on false and fabricated information picked from social media, is not appropriate. They levied the sanctions without varying the facts," AKM Mozammel Haque, president of the committee and also the liberation war affairs minister, told journalists after the meeting in Dhaka Wednesday.
He said the meeting asked the foreign ministry to respond to the USA with "accurate and comprehensive information".
Earlier in the first week of January, the Standing Committee on Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended the foreign ministry to appoint lobbyists in Washington for Dhaka so that Bangladesh is not portrayed in a negative light to the USA.
On 10 December last year, the US State Department imposed sanctions on RAB and seven of its former and current officials, including the current Inspector General of Police (IGP) and former RAB director general (DG) Benazir Ahmed.
Due to the sanctions, they will not get a US visa, and may even have their assets in the US confiscated.
After that, US ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller was summoned by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen to convey Dhaka's discontent over the designated sanctions.
The foreign minister also wrote to his US counterpart Antony Blinken requesting a review of the sanctions.
AKM Mozammel Haque Wednesday also said the government has decided to revoke passports of Bangladeshi citizens who are conspiring against the nation from abroad.
The liberation war affairs minister said the cabinet committee meeting decided on formulating laws mandating dope tests for government jobs and college and university admissions.
He expressed condolences on the recent fire incidents in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps and said investigation is underway to find out the reasons behind those fires.
"Rohingyas are getting involved in drug smuggling and local narcotics networks since the country cannot prosecute the displaced people under Bangladesh's laws. The authorities have been instructed to restrain them from drugs by any means using alternative measures," he added.
The minister further said foreign nationals whose passports have expired will be kept in safe homes and deported to their home countries.
