‘Must allow rights commission to probe law enforcers’

The issue of human rights came to the fore after the change in the government. Calls are coming from many quarters to look into longstanding allegations of abuse. As reforms take centre stage for the interim government, the question of how a human rights framework can be established arises. Kamal Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, leads a body tasked with ensuring these rights. He says that while the commission has done a lot of work on a number of issues during his tenure, the existing law does not allow the agency to probe the allegations against law enforcing agencies and security personnel. In his interview with ‘Inside Out’, Ahmed discusses the flaws in the existing rights framework, the work that has been done despite the limitations, and what more can be done in the future to ensure that every person gets their due.