A United Nations fact-finding mission is set to arrive in Dhaka next week to investigate alleged atrocities committed during the violent protests that led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government earlier this month, according to information on Thursday.
The UN is working on the modalities and tasks for the mission, Gwyn Lewis, the UN coordinator in Bangladesh, said after meeting with Touhid Hossain, the interim government’s foreign affairs adviser, in Dhaka.
“The mission will operate independently,” she told reporters.
The government will provide all possible assistance to the UN to make the investigation credible and impartial, Hossain told a news conference after meeting the UN official.
Earlier, the government announced that the UN would investigate the atrocities, following a telephone conversation between Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus and UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday.
More than 500 people were reportedly killed in violence during weeks of nationwide student protests in July, which demanded an end to the controversial job quota system, eventually leading to a mass uprising that forced Hasina to step down.
On August 5, Hasina stepped down and fled to neighboring India in a military helicopter. From there, protesters in Bangladesh launched further attacks on public buildings, homes and businesses belonging to Hasina loyalists and the Hindu minority.
Three days after Hasina stepped down, Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus took over as head of an interim government.
Local authorities have launched an investigation into allegations of murder, genocide and crimes against humanity by ousted Prime Minister Hasina, her cabinet colleagues and top security officials over their handling of the protests.
