Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) today defended its recent report on the first 100 days of the government, refuting the home minister’s claim that the report was based on “newspaper clippings”.
In a press statement, the anti-corruption watchdog maintained that while it is not an investigative agency, its research adheres to rigorous, internationally recognised social science methodologies, following criticisms from the home minister and police headquarters regarding its credibility.
On Sunday, TIB published a research report evaluating the government's performance in its first 100 days. The study highlighted a concerning rise in criminal activities, including 294 muggings, 605 murders, 196 abductions, and 3,496 incidents of violence against women and children.
Citing this report, independent lawmaker Rumeen Farhana had raised concerns in parliament on Monday regarding the state of law and order in the country.
However, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed dismissed the findings, telling reporters that TIB relies primarily on "newspaper clippings" rather than independent field investigations. Following this, the Police Headquarters also questioned the presentation of the statistics and disputed claims regarding the deterioration of law and order.
The TIB response emphasised that its sources include Bangladesh Police and three well-known human rights organisations, rather than newspaper articles alone.
TIB described the home minister's claim that the report was prepared solely based on media reports as unfounded. It argued that while relevant media information is collected, it is assessed for quality and credibility through multi-layered verification and analysed alongside data from government, non-governmental, and other direct sources. TIB added that portraying the report as merely based on newspaper clippings was an attempt to divert attention from the substantive issues raised in the findings.
The watchdog further questioned the dismissal of media-based information, noting that elected representatives and state institutions frequently rely on media reports when making important decisions or communicating their activities to the public.
Salahuddin Ahmed, in his criticism of the TIB report, also mentioned that the numbers in the report did not align with official crime statistics.
He suggested that for the "actual picture," one should rely on routine crime data collected from districts by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Police Headquarters also challenged TIB’s figures, particularly the claim of 605 murders within the first 100 days of the current administration. PHQ argued that presenting raw figures without analysing causes can be misleading, providing a breakdown of cases linked to motives such as previous enmity, family disputes, and financial conflicts.
Police officials asserted that Bangladesh records between 3,000 and 4,500 murder cases annually, and the 605 figure, when annualised, falls within this normal historical range. PHQ further stated that the murder rate during the period stood at 0.34 per 100,000 people, which it described as not high by international standards.
In its statement, TIB noted that the police authorities did not disagree with its central observation that the law-and-order situation remains worrying. However, TIB clarified that the PHQ's expectation for a comparative analysis with previous administrations was outside the scope of the specific research report.
