Reform commission to propose independent police commission

Logo of police

The police reform commission is set to make a proposal to form an independent commission for the police department. According to the draft report of the commission, Bangladesh Police would be run through this commission. Two members each from the governing party and the opposition will be members of the commission.

Sources from the police reform commission informed this to Prothom Alo.

Four reform commissions, including the police reform commission, will submit their reports to the interim government’s chief adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus today, Wednesday. The three other commissions to submit the reports are on the constitution, electoral system and anti-corruption, Chief Adviser’s Office sources said.

Sources from the police reform commission further informed that the draft report proposed to form an assessment committee under the independent police commission that would investigate the allegations against the police members.

Besides, the report proposed to draw a “fit list” for recruitment and promotion in the service, a separate medical corps and technical corps for the police.

The interim government that came to power through the July-August student-people uprising has been speaking about bringing reforms in various sectors from the very beginning. Eleven reform commissions were constituted in two phases as part of the process. The electoral system reform commission, police administration reform commission, judiciary reform commission, Anti-Corruption Commission reform commission, public administration reform commission and the constitution reform commission were formed in the first week of October last year.

The six commissions were supposed to submit their reports within the first week of January. But the government on 3 January extended the deadline to submit the reports as they could not complete their task.

The judiciary reform commission was given time until 31 January while the deadline for other five commissions is 15 January.

Meanwhile, the public administration reform commission has sought time until 31 January for submission of its report.

The six other reform commissions constituted in the second phase are supposed to submit their reports at the end of next month.

The government earlier said they would initiate discussion with the political parties upon receiving reports of the reform commissions. The discussion is likely to begin this month.

The proposals on which consensus would be reached through discussions with the political parties will be implemented.

A general outline of when and through what process the proposals will be implemented is likely to be fixed from the government’s discussions with the parties.

Chief adviser’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam on Tuesday told the newspersons that the main points of the reform commissions’ proposals will be shared with them from a news conference at 3:00 pm Wednesday.