Bangladesh body count mounts; group urges U.N. action to stop drug war

By Ruma Paul, Zeba Siddiqui

The death toll in a Bangladeshi “zero tolerance” crackdown on drugs has risen to 140, with about 18,000 people arrested, the government said on Thursday, as a group of activists urged the United Nations to step in to stop the bloodshed. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the anti-narcotics campaign in early May to tackle the spread of methamphetamines but the killings have raised fears among rights groups of a bloody Philippine-style campaign to wipe out drugs. “In a manner reminiscent of the Philippines drug war, Bangladeshi police justified these killings as supposedly happening during ‘gunfights’ with rival gangs or law enforcement officers acting in self-defense during anti-drug operations,” the International Drug Policy Consortium said in a statement, urging U.N. agencies to act.