Mob incidents were politicised in various ways: NCP leader Ariful

Senior joint convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), Ariful Islam Adib, said that whenever a mob incident occurs, it is politicised in various ways.
He remarked that over the past 15 years, the police have been politicised. He emphasised the need to move ahead and to improve their professional standards.

Adib made these comments while responding to a question during the roundtable discussion titled “Reforming Bangladesh Police: Challenges and the Way Forward,” held at 11 am today, Saturday, at the Prothom Alo office in Karwan Bazar of the capital.

The roundtable was jointly organised by Prothom Alo and the Bangladesh Retired Police Officers Welfare Association. The event began with welcome remarks from the Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman.

While speaking about mob incidents, senior joint convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), Ariful Islam, cited examples and said that no single political party is solely responsible for such incidents.

The NCP leader said, “In the early days, when after the uprising someone would lose their job in a media organisation, or have to be transferred, or when heads of institutions were replaced, it was generally assumed that people linked to the anti-discrimination student movement were behind it.” He added that, in some cases, locally influential political and social figures also exerted their influence.

Explaining the current causes behind mob incidents, the NCP leader said, “Firstly, there is a lack of trust that the police will properly discharge their duties. People think they probably wouldn’t. Secondly, a large section of the force has been politicised. So, when a situation arises, the officer tends to think that he must defend his own institution.”

At the beginning of the discussion, Yasmin Gofur, retired Additional Inspector General of Police and vice president of the Welfare Association of Retired Police Officers, presented a paper on “Reforming Bangladesh Police: Challenges and the Way Forward.”

Participants in the roundtable included the interim government's adviser law, justice and parliamentary affairs, Professor Asif Nazrul, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Iftekharuzzaman, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Baharul Alam, former IGP Nurul Huda, member of the Police Reform Commission, Professor Shahnaz Huda, president of the Bangladesh Retired Police Officers Welfare Association, M Akbar Ali, and human rights activist Nur Khan.

Also present were adviser to the acting chairman of the BNP, Mahdi Amin, member of the central executive council of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Saiful Alam Khan Milon, secretary general of Khilafat Majlis, Ahmad Abdul Kader, and Additional IGP of Police, Kazi Md. Fazlul Karim.