Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday said policemen should not work as a team of any political party.

Pointing to recent harassment of several people by cops, the jurist said the force has been suffering from “diseases” and it should get rid of them.

“The police cannot be exploited for materialising anyone's personal interest. It cannot be used for the interest of any political party,” Kamal told the party's extended meeting at its central office in the city's Arambagh.

Meanwhile, rights activist Hameeda Hossain yesterday at a discussion said terrorism is the country's biggest problem now and people are facing the problem from the state.

“For example, whenever anyone dies at the hands of Rab, they [the force] label it crossfire. But they cannot provide any rationale. Why that person was not put on trial as per law? They only claim that the person was a terrorist,” she noted.

Bangladesh Nagorik Samaj Foundation organised the discussion titled “Duties of the civil society in current perspective” at the National Press Club.

As the people are victimised by state terrorism, there should be a united protest against it, said Hameeda, also the founding member of Ain O Salish Kendra.

Citing the killing of bloggers as a major problem, she said: “If we don't like to read them [bloggers], we won't. But which law states that they should be killed?”

According to the constitution, freedom of speech and thought is our right, she added.

She stressed the need for working on a personal and family level to remove discrimination between boys and girls.

Speaking at the Gonoforum meeting, Dr Kamal said allegations of corruption have been raised against some policemen and investigations found the allegations to be true.

“But the cops involved in corruption are the sons of our country. They are not our enemy. We'll have to bring them on the right path.”

The police force is very much necessary for establishing rule of law in the country, the lawyer observed. “But it cannot be acceptable that cops would harass people. Some police members have been caught red handed [for harassing people]. We won't say that we don't need police. We'll have to free the police from the corruption disease.”

Pointing to the constitution, Kamal said people are the owners of state power and they want peace, stability and rule of law in the country.

“It's totally unconstitutional for a government to act in a partisan way. There will be a partisan government, but it will have to exercise power in accordance with the constitution,” he mentioned.