The Sheikh Hasina government fell in the face of a movement from students and public. Afterwards, there arose anarchy all over the country while the law and order situation deteriorated as well. Even there was no scope for the people to approach the police for remedy.
Fearing public rage, police personnel fled from a number of police stations. The situation isn’t suitable for resuming police activities in all the police stations yet. However, we consider the resumption of service in a number of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) stations on Friday as a matter of great relief. With this we can be hopeful that the police activities will start over again all over the country including in Dhaka within the quickest possible time.
As reported in Prothom Alo, services resumed in 29 police stations of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) from 8:00 am on Friday, after remaining closed for three consecutive days. The police members joined their posts under the watch of army personnel.
Activities have resumed in those police stations which had not been attacked or have suffered less damages. Meanwhile, the police didn’t even have the scope to sit down in the police stations that have been attacked, vandalised and set on fire. So, 21 police stations of DMP have not resumed their activities yet.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina government in a mass uprising of students and public, there were incidents of attacks, vandalism and arson in many police stations across the country including in the capital from the afternoon of 5 August. People became infuriated with the police for applying excessive force while trying to vanquish the movement.
Falling victim to public rage, a number of police personnel lost their lives. Even the vehicles used by the police were vandalised and set on fire. Various properties including weapons and documents were looted in many stations. As a result, the whole structure of the police force has almost collapsed down.
In this chance, the disturbance of thieves and dacoits also increased in different parts of the country. The fear of thieves and dacoits has arisen in many areas of the capital itself. Under these circumstances, residents in many parts of the city have patrolled the area the whole night to thwart the thieves and the dacoits. And the students have helped them. Not only the disturbance of thieves and dacoits, but also the incidents of looting, vandalism and grabbing have been noticed in many parts of the country.
Service can be fully resumed in the police stations that have not been attacked. And new furniture should be bought quickly in those police stations where the furniture has been vandalised. If the building or rooms need to be repaired, that too should be repaired as quickly as possible.
Many of the personnel in the police stations are performing their duties in plain clothes. That might be out of a bit of fear. Winning over this fear would be the main task of the police force now. How can that be done? The fact it’s impossible to do that by using force or through intimidation has been proved in the recent student movement indeed. The police have to gain trust of the people with their service only.
In the absence of police, students are controlling traffic on the road. Though it’s a great initiative, it cannot go on for long. The traffic police have to be quickly brought back in service. Former IGP Nurul Huda told Prothom Alo that the members of the regular forces need to be put to work at this moment. This former inspector general of police also reminded about the responsibility of senior officers in this regard.
After the formation of the interim government on Thursday, the responsibilities of the ministries were distributed on Friday. Former election commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain has been given the charge of home ministry. He has experience of managing and overseeing military as well as civil administration.
Hopefully he’ll be using that experience and make an all-out effort to normalise the law and order situation as soon as possible. If the general people realise that the police will not harass them unlawfully and the public will get help from reaching out to them, they will put their faith in them.