Why did the home adviser hold a press conference at 3am?

Home affairs adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury held a press conference at 3:00 am on Monday calling journalists over to his residence. There he said that the supporters of Awami League are trying to destabilise the country.

Questions have been raised as why did the home adviser have to call a press conference at the dead of the night? What was the problem in holding it in the morning?

Some are saying that the home affairs adviser only made customary remarks at the late night press conference. Why should it be called an urgent press conference?

The home adviser held this press conference amidst the demand of his resignation. An organisation named ‘Bangladesh against Rape and Repression’ called for a mass march from the Central Shahid Minar towards the home ministry Monday.

Earlier, students protested at Dhaka University Sunday midnight demanding resignation of the home affairs adviser, raising allegations of his failure to control mugging and terror activities across the country.

At that time, the students issued a deadline till 1:00 pm Monday for the home affairs adviser to resign.

During a brief rally at the Raju Memorial Sculpture following the protest march, a student of Dhaka University, Sakib Ahmed said that the extortionists have once again become active in the country. That means that the home affairs adviser is failing to take effective action.

Before the protest at Dhaka University, a terrifying video of a mugging incident in the capital went viral on social media. It showed some men shooting and hacking another man with cleavers to snatch his bag. The police stated this morning that the video was authentic and the incident occurred in the Bansree area of the capital.

Rampura police station officer-in-charge (OC) Ataur Rahman Akand said Sunday night that the mugging victim is Md Anwar. He has a gold shop in D Block of Bansree. Every day he returns home from his shop at night. While returning home Sunday night, muggers arrived in three motorcycles and surrounded him. The gold ornaments he had with him were looted at the time.

OC Ataur Rahman further said that the muggers fired bullets at Md Anwar and injured him with cleavers. There are cuts and bullet wounds on his body.

Sources from the Rampura police station stated that the businessman has claimed to the police that the muggers have snatched 200 Bhoris of gold away from him.

On the same night, another video of mugging in Mohammadpur also went viral on social media. However, the authenticity of that video could not be confirmed till 12:30 pm today, Monday.

Both videos have created a huge stir on social media as many people expressed their fears. Meanwhile, yet another video went viral on social media. It showed that the announcement of a robber attack was coming from the microphone of a mosque.

Officer-in-charge (OC) of Hazaribagh police station, Md Saiful Islam told Prothom Alo today that around 10 youths had gathered in front of Ali Hossain College in Shankar of Dhanmondi in the capital. Seeing them gather, the news of a robbery attack was announced on the microphone of a local mosque.

He further said that during a meeting with the police two days ago local residents were requested to make announcements on mic if they saw any signs of a crime. The announcement was made on the mosque’s mic as a follow-up of that. However, no profs have been found of any crime, he added.

In context of the alarming situation, the home adviser organised an urgent press conference on the law and order situation of the country at his residence in Baridhara DOHS area of the capital around 3:00 am.

He said that Awami League’s allies are trying in every way to destabilise the country. They are using substantial amounts of money siphoned out of the country for these activities. The government will not allow this to happen under any circumstances. This will be prevented at any cost.

Mentioning that the law enforcement agencies have been instructed to increase patrolling, the adviser said that they will take measures to ensure that there are no crimes anywhere from this day onwards.

If the law enforcement cannot implement this instruction, action will be taken against them as well, he warned.

The law and order situation will improve further day by day. There is no risk of deterioration, Jahangir Alam stated.

After the fall of the autocratic Awami League government in the face of the July mass uprising, an interim government was formed on 8 August under the leadership of professor Muhammad Yunus.

Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain was appointed the home affairs adviser at that time. However, Sakhawat Hossain was replaced later and Jahangir Alam Chowdhury was appointed the home affairs adviser on 16 August.

Law and order is being considered one of the major challenges faced by the new government and the situation seems to be alarming.

People are now faced with the fear of mugging and robbery. Many are feeling scared to go out early in the morning and late at night. Even there have been incidents of robbery and molestation of women on running buses in broad daylight. Also, there have been many incidents of rape in the past few days.

Students of some public and private universities in the country have already been holding programmes to protest the deterioration of the law and order situation demanding the home affairs adviser’s resignation for a few days.

After the home affairs adviser called a press conference late at night, poet Imtiaz Mahmud sarcastically wrote on Facebook, “Journalists who will go to the press conference at 3:00 am should carry their watches, mobile phones, wallets, microphones, and so on carefully.”