STRAIGHT LINE
The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.
There is no denying that for a long time, the police have been used as a tool of repression in the subcontinent
The catch-all definition of national security must not be used as a cloak to hide abuses.
For police reform to be substantive, the first order of business should be the enactment of a new Police Act
The onus of ensuring malpractice-free management of the police force squarely rests with the police hierarchy.
Bangabandhu, through an intense process of national consciousness-building, equipped a people to defend their sovereignty.
The question is one of making the bureaucracy more responsible and responsive.
It is imperative to bring the police under a system of accountability that earns public confidence.
On November 20, the editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, in a column in this daily, urged for the transformation of the Bangladesh Police into a pro-people outfit.
In an article published on April 4, 2015, I wrote that “Attacks on Hindus and their property have demonstrated the immensely sad but blunt reality that even after 42 years of democratic pluralistic existence, the religious minority of Bangladesh have not been able to save themselves” (The Daily Star).
The brutal killings of four national leaders by misguided soldiers inside Dhaka Central Jail in the early hours of November 3, 1975, remain an indelible shame on the national psyche.
In the columns of this newspaper, an erudite professor highlighted the need to “at least start a dialogue” on reforming the police.
As the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority numbering nearly 1.2 million stranded in Bangladesh crosses the third painful year, one is reminded of the most blighted ethnic minority in Asia.
The conviction of three police officers working in one of the police stations of Dhaka metropolitan area for a custodial death that occurred years ago should be a shining example in an otherwise murky environment.
Following the death of Major Sinha in circumstances indicative of collusive criminal behaviour of some apparently errant police personnel along with other delinquencies of lawmen elsewhere in the country, well-meaning citizens have expressed their apprehensions about control and accountability of our police or the lack of it.
Reports in the print and electronic media indicate that the image of police in public eyes has been worryingly tainted following the death of Major Sinha under circumstances pointing to the criminal collusive actions of some errant policemen, in addition to other serious infractions of policemen elsewhere in the country.
For a blissfully long period of time, much of subcontinental politics had been kept alive and rather exciting by a mix of erudite or frothy politicians who could be credited with sustaining people’s interest in public affairs.
While remembering the tragic incident of August 15 1975, we have to agree with the undeniable fact of history that Bangabandhu became a symbol in his own lifetime.