§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if military training has been given to officers of the Bangladeshi military who have been involved in violations of human rights in the Chittagon area; and if he will make a statement;
181W(2) if he will withdraw all military training facilities from members of the Bangladeshi armed forces in the light of human rights violations perpetrated by them in the Chittagon area.
§ Mr. Ian StewartNo. While I understand that some Bangladeshi officers trained with the help of the British military advisory team (BMAT) at the Bangladesh defence services command and staff college have been appointed to the division covering the Chittagong hill tracts, nothing in the United Kingdom's military training assistance to Bangladesh could encourage any abuse of human rights. On the contrary, the strong emphasis on fairness and restraint given by the BMAT can only help inculcate high ethical standards in the students and, indeed, the college training as a whole emphasises these standards in line with the British military tradition.