It was a request to journalists, not an order: Monirul

Bangladesh Police Service Association (BPSA) through its statement did not order anything to the media, rather the association made a request to newspersons, said its president Monirul Islam.

“We did not issue any order to the journalists, rather made a request. Now it’s up to the journalists whether they would respect the request or not,” he said Monday.

An additional inspector general of police and chief of police’s special branch (SB), Monirul Islam, was speaking to the media in the morning after paying respect to the victims of Holey Artisan Attack by placing wreath at a sculpture “Dipto Shopoth”, constructed commemorating the victims of the militant attack.

The police service association issued a statement asking the media to maintain more caution while running any report about the force.

Recently, several media outlets carried reports on huge amounts of assets of several retired and serving police officials gathered beyond the known sources of income.

A newsperson sought Monirul’s statement as the police service association sent the statement despite saying that the force won’t bear the blame of any individual.

The SB chief said, “We always said that the force cannot be blamed for the activities of any individual. We maintain this. But at the same time there is some exaggerated and partial information. For example, it has been said about one of our officials that he fled the country along with his family. But he did not flee. That is why we sent the rejoinder and made a request along with that.”

The Bangladesh Police Service Association president further said, “We have not sent any guidance in the rejoinder; we have not ordered you anything. Not only about the police, rather we made a request for checking information properly before publishing any report. Actually, anyone can say this from a professional point of view. It’s all up to you whether you would respect our request or not. We have just made a request.”