Amnesty International (AI) Secretary General Irene Khan yesterday termed the present human rights situation in the country 'unsatisfactory' saying that the government has committed rights abuses that have added new patterns to those done by the previous regimes.
The government should suspend the Special Powers Act (SPA) as it is being manipulated to detain politicians, businessmen and journalists, the AI chief observed and expressed concern about the armed forces' carrying out civilian functions without rules of accountability.
She was delivering the concluding statement of her visit at a press conference in a city hotel on Thursday. The AI chief also presented a memorandum of recommendations to the government and political parties.
A Bangladeshi, Irene called on the government to seek UN advice to open an independent commission of enquiry into the war crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971.
