The Basenji dogs of Bangladesh

The Basenji dog never barks; Amnesty International sometime does: sometimes it's just a Basenji.


And this was one of the occasions.


A bomb maker of an Islamist group, Boma Mizan, was arrested by security forces, on 14th May after a four-hour struggle.


He gave the signal to his wife, Sharmin, and the lady immediately set off explosives to try and blow up herself and her children. She succeeded only in blowing off her right wrist and wounding her two children, one two years old, the other a baby.


Why did she do that?


Naturally, she didn't want to be raped and tortured for information, as, without doubt, she will be. And with her gone, who would look after her children? It seemed the rational thing to do.


But where were the Basenji dogs of the west: Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the assorted chorus of our conscience?


Nowhere to be heard.


When jihadis are arrested, there is never any call from the Basenjis to follow due process, avoid the use of torture, the need for transparency….


Yet Human Rights Watch has been snapping like a Russian Samoyed over the arrest of BDR soldiers implicated in the murder and rape of army officers and their wives.


Double standards? Perish the thought: they just lose their voices from over-barking at times.