Blitz Bureau
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed “serious concern” over reports that authorities had deployed vehicles with UN markings during the Bangladesh riots, his spokesperson said.
UN staff there had “seen disturbing reports of UN-marked vehicles that may have been used during the developments we’ve seen in Bangladesh over the last few days,” Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on July 22.
Bangladesh with 5,859 troops on UN peacekeep – ing operations has access to vehicles and e q u i p m e n t with UN markings meant for use in other countries where its personnel are deployed on the world organisation’s missions. Bangladesh is the third-largest contributor of personnel to current UN peacekeeping operations.
Dujarric said that Guterres is “deeply concerned” about the reports that more than 100 people have been killed in the violence in Bangladesh and over 1,000 injured.
Student groups were protesting the 30 per cent government job reservations for the family members of the Bangladesh freedom fighters who fought against Pakistani troops and their supporters who carried out the genocide in 1971.
The Supreme Court on July 21 ordered the reservation for freedom fighters’ relatives cut to five per cent.
