DHAKA, April 1: Bangladesh’s Law Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed on Thursday dismissed a US State Department report on Dhaka’s human rights record and democracy as neither balanced nor objective. In its report, ‘Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The US Record 2004-05’, which was submitted to the Congress on March 29, the State Department said the Bangladesh government had failed to conduct thorough investigations of politically motivated attacks.

The report also said that “an increase in politically-motivated attacks in Bangladesh seriously undermined further political progress”. Brushing aside the State Department observation as a ‘completely baseless allegation’, the minister told a press conference here that the report “failed to highlight the government’s achievement and efforts to improve human rights situation in Bangladesh through reforms in a number of laws”.