In Bangladesh, more than 600 insurgents recently turned themselves in and surrendered to the police this week, which is the largest surrender in decades.
At a sports stadium in Bangladesh, these insurgents will turn over their firearms and homemade explosives to the police. According to the police chief, these insurgents will undergo “rehabilitation” in order to safely return to a peaceful place within society. While these promises seem relatively harmless, the type of “rehabilitation” was not specified.
This insurgency has gone on since the 1970s. After nearly 50 years of conflict, the insurgency’s support is starting to wane. In the early 2000s, the Bangladeshi government formed an elite police force that would carry out more specialized and brutal crackdowns against the insurgencies. In some cases, former insurgents who have surrendered will join the special police force in order to help stop the insurgency they were formerly a part of.
Additionally, the government of Bangladesh has declared a no-holds-barred war on drugs. Many drug dealers and insurgents alike have been killed by the special police force, which has sprung some red flags from human rights organizations that believe the special police is using excessive force in fighting the insurgents, as well as many left-leaning advocates in the west and north-west.
While instability, insurgencies, and drug trafficking are incredibly detrimental to the overall environment of a country, it would be important to do more research on the proposed “rehabilitation” and the treatment of insurgents by the secret police.
For there to be several rights organizations to be concerned with the treatment of the insurgents by the Bangladeshi government is more than enough to spawn concern amongst individuals who care about the treatment of the Bangladeshi citizens. Whether or not they are volatile or violent, these are Bangladeshi citizens.