UN team to probe Bangladesh unrest student deaths

UN Dhaka mission head says UN will run independent probe body on deaths of hundreds during recent student protest

DHAKA:

A UN fact-finding team will visit Bangladesh next week to set up a probe of hundreds of deaths during recent student-led protests which led the prime minister to step down, UN officials announced on Thursday.

An independent inquiry commission will be funded and led by the UN, said Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, after a meeting in the capital Dhaka with Touhid Hossai, foreign policy advisor in the country’s transitional government.

The time frame and an action plan will be finalized soon, Lewis added.

Earlier on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, made a phone call to Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and said a UN-led investigation would be launched very soon to probe the killing of the protesters.

“A team of UN experts will soon visit the country to set up an investigation,” Turk was quoted as saying by Yunus’ press office.

During the call, Yunus sought UN cooperation for rebuilding the country and to helping it uphold human rights.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, last week was tapped to lead a 17-member transitional administration after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to neighboring India under the pressure of weeks of anti-government protests.

From mid-July until Hasina fled, the student-civilian uprising resulted in at least 580 deaths.