Dhaka, Nov. 17 -- In a span of five days, police in Bangladesh's two largest cities, Dhaka and Chittagong, have issued directives to their unit chiefs to open fire on suspected arsonists and attackers using crude bombs.

Authorities cite the Penal Code's provision on the "right of private defence" as the legal basis for the orders.

Yet critics warn that in the past, this clause has been misused as a shield to justify extrajudicial killings, including so-called crossfires during political unrest.

A decade ago, under an Awami League government, police used similar provisions to fire on opposition the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami activists during programmes of unrest, leading to abductions and enforced disappearances.

Lawyers and journalists h...