Police reforms a must
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Shaila Khatun
NATIONAL parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in about 50 days. The work of the voter list has been completed and the armed forces and those who took part in the whole operation should be roundly applauded. The next most important issue should and must be security.
There is a lot of talk about keeping the election free from muscle power, that is, violence. Can that be ensured? Someone pointed out that violence in the last three elections (one won by Awami League and two by BNP) were largely free of violence. That may be the case but can we count on it this time? After all, one-eleven came about as a direct result of very serious violence indeed. The lid has been kept on violence all this time perhaps because of changed situation, state of emergency, law enforcement operations and all that. Many violent criminals and their bosses are on the run. But it is not only the hardcore criminals who flex their muscle come election time. It is the political cadres, the militant party followers who, with the obvious nod from their bosses, that is, the political leaders (who have and always will deny it) may create chaos at any time and place if it is to their advantage.
Then you have the law enforcers themselves. Just as no one is a born criminal (as this letter writer believes) no corrupt law enforcing agent is born that way. But they must be given a chance for change. This brings us to the question of police department reforms. What has happened to the much-talked about the promised Police Act? If we are serious about bringing about serious change in the police department, then pragmatic and far reaching steps are a must. And something should be done before the election.
NATIONAL parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in about 50 days. The work of the voter list has been completed and the armed forces and those who took part in the whole operation should be roundly applauded. The next most important issue should and must be security.
There is a lot of talk about keeping the election free from muscle power, that is, violence. Can that be ensured? Someone pointed out that violence in the last three elections (one won by Awami League and two by BNP) were largely free of violence. That may be the case but can we count on it this time? After all, one-eleven came about as a direct result of very serious violence indeed. The lid has been kept on violence all this time perhaps because of changed situation, state of emergency, law enforcement operations and all that. Many violent criminals and their bosses are on the run. But it is not only the hardcore criminals who flex their muscle come election time. It is the political cadres, the militant party followers who, with the obvious nod from their bosses, that is, the political leaders (who have and always will deny it) may create chaos at any time and place if it is to their advantage.
Then you have the law enforcers themselves. Just as no one is a born criminal (as this letter writer believes) no corrupt law enforcing agent is born that way. But they must be given a chance for change. This brings us to the question of police department reforms. What has happened to the much-talked about the promised Police Act? If we are serious about bringing about serious change in the police department, then pragmatic and far reaching steps are a must. And something should be done before the election.