BANGLADESH’S CONTROVERSIAL DRUGS CRACKDOWN IS CRITICISED BY FAMILIES THE death toll in a Bangladeshi “zero tolerance” crackdown on drugs has risen to 140, with about 18,000 people arrested, the government said last Thursday (7), as a group of activists urged the United Nations to step in to stop the bloodshed. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina approved the anti-narcotics campaign in early May to tackle the spread of methamphetamines, but the killings have raised fears among rights groups of a bloody Philippine-style campaign to wipe out drugs. Hasina, who faces a general election later in 2018, has dismissed accusations of extra-judicial killings, and…
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