Bangladesh's interim government has formed a committee to investigate the purchase of surveillance equipment during the regime of the ousted Sheikh Hasina government.
Faiz Ahmed Taiyeb, special assistant to the chief adviser on posts, telecommunications and ICT, has been made the head of the committee.
The committee will investigate how, from where and at what price the spy devices were purchased and how those were used, chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam said at a press briefing held at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Thursday.
Alam said it was told that the surveillance equipment were purchased spending about US$300 million, while many said the equipment were brought at a cost of US$200 million.
鈥榃hat we read in the entire report is completely clear - the previous authoritarian government used surveillance equipment and spyware to deprive Bangladesh鈥檚 people of their rights,鈥� he said.
The press secretary said the committee was formed in the meeting of the Council of Advisers on the day to probe the issue.
How much money was spent in purchasing those and from where those were purchased will be investigated, although the report says - many things were purchased from Israel, he said.
About the ongoing reforms in the country, he said, in the past week, it was announced that 121 recommendations of the reform commissions were being implemented.
Of those, 16 have already been implemented and 14 have been partially implemented and the rest are under implementation, he said.
Referring to the council meeting, Shafiqul Alam said, 246 more reform recommendations have come.
鈥楢 total of 367 recommendations have been presented. Of those, 37 have already been implemented. Of the recommendations, 82 are related to labour,鈥� he said.
Alam said the labour adviser informed the meeting that many of the 82 recommendations are at the final stages of implementation.
Some 71 recommendations of the women鈥檚 affairs reform commission have been listed for immediate implementation, he said, adding that those include 37 of the Local Government Division Reform Commission, 33 of the Health Sector Reform Commission, and 23 of the Media Reform Commission.
The press secretary said emphasis has been given to the implementation of the recommendations that need to be implemented immediately.
He said there has also been a report on how deadly weapons were purchased for the police and how the weapons were used.
