Police for new 'mode of action' to tackle militancy

The ‘way of action’ of the police is being redesigned following the recent gruesome terror attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on 1 July, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia said on Saturday.

He made the disclosure while talking to reporters at his office in the morning.

“This is new as such incident never happened in Bangladesh. As a result, we’ve started redesigning the ‘mode of action’ or ‘way of action’ of the police,” he said.

Those who carried out the deadly attack on the restaurant were killed, and nobody will be spared if anyone tries to repeat such incident in the future, he added.

Asaduzzaman stressed forging a national unity to prevent militancy in the country, and sought help from the people of all walks of life, including teachers, religious scholars and journalists, to uproot militancy. “Steps have already been taken to create awareness in schools, colleges and universities to face terrorism and militancy,” he added.

Asked whether they will seek assistance from foreign countries to face the current situation, he said although this kind of incident is new in the country, Detective Branch (DB) and newly formed Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of DMP have a bunch of young, talented and efficient officers who received training abroad.

They are versed in conducting investigation into any incident, the DMP chief said, adding that technical assistance might be taken from friendly countries and organisations like India, the USA and Singapore for chemical or lab tests, if necessary.

He also claimed that no big incident of crime like robbery, burglary and mugging occurred in the city in the recent past and there was no deterioration in the law and order situation. “Police are trying their best so that public safety is not hampered anyway. This is why policemen were discouraged to take leave during the eid vacation,” Asaduzzaman said.

Twenty-two people, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian national and two policemen were killed inside and outside of Holey Artisan Bakery, a Spanish restaurant, during the attack on 1 July.

Later on the morning of 2 July, six people with five attackers were also killed during a commando operation. Thirteen of the hostages were rescued alive in the operation.

Besides, a blood-soaked young man who was detained after he came out of the Spanish restaurant in the early hours of 2 July during the hostage standoff died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Friday.