Police in dire straits due to massive politicisation

The “chain of command” of the police force has broken down after the fall of the government of Sheikh Hasina due to the student-people movement. All types of activities of the law enforcing agency were stopped for three consecutive days. Though the police members have started returning to the workstations and activities at various police stations have started albeit on a limited scale, many of the police members are not feeling secure.

Relevant people said the police were politicised on a large scale in the three consecutive terms of the government of Sheikh Hasina. An eager section of the force used the police members to implement the party’s agenda. They also played a significant role in killing people by firing bullets indiscriminately and disproportionate use of power on the protestors who were waging a movement seeking a reform in the job quota system.

Now, all of them have gone into hiding immediately after getting the news of the resignation of Sheikh Hasina as prime minister.

Newly appointed inspector general of police Md. Mainul Islam also acknowledged this after assuming the charge. He said, “Incidents of human rights violation have taken place due to unprofessionalism and high ambition of some of our officials and flouting principles in using force. Many of our colleagues have died, sustained injuries and were repressed due to leadership failure.”

In this context, the aggrieved lower rung of the police force, especially from constables to sub-inspectors (SIs), claimed that the incidents of disproportionate use of force was due to obeying the order of the high ups. As a result, the police force also faced attacks.

In this situation, the police members have demanded a short, middle and long term planning for reforming the force.

Relevant people said the most important task right now is to bring back the police members to their workstation ensuring their security. At the same time, many of the officials emphasised on employing honest and efficient people at the top positions of the police force; establishing a system to hold accountable the officials involved in unprofessional activities using political identity; making transparent policies for promotion and posting and ensuring effective and fair opportunities for lower rank members.

However, they think that the reform initiatives will stumble if the activities of new over enthusiasts are not controlled.

The issue was discussed in the first informal meeting of the interim government’s advisors Friday as well. After the meeting, advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan told the media that they discussed bringing back the police force to work soon and about seeking everyone’s help in this regard.

The relevant people, however, think the reform and reconstruction is tough due to politicisation of the force over a long period of time. A number of over enthusiastic officials are still in important posts and those, who were sidelined during the Awami League government’s term, are trying for postings and promotions using their political identity now.

Wishing not to be named, a Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) official told Prothom Alo the police force was held hostage by a few officials when the Awami League was in power. They have earned a huge amount of money through corruption and irregularities and placed the force against the people abusing the power. All are now in danger just because of them.

Police operations virtually came to a standstill due to attacks, arson and panic since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August. The army, Ansar and students are guarding the police stations. The police headquarters has asked all members of the force to report for duty by 8 August evening.

Following this, the activities started in 538 out of 639 police stations until Saturday, with most of the police stations working on a limited scale. Many members are still suffering from insecurity.

In such a situation, there has been a demand from various levels of the force to take drastic measures to ensure a radical reform and culture of accountability in the force’s work. Some have also demanded to change the clothes of the police. Along with this, the aggrieved members of the police have demanded elimination of discrimination in all levels of police recruitment, transfer, promotion and other facilities.

Politicisation in the force will not stop in the future if there are no fundamental reforms, say the police members from constables to SI level. For this, they have made several demands to the government. Those include - managing the force under an independent police commission so that no political government can use the police to implement their agenda; to ensure that they do not have to obey any illegal or dangerous verbal orders of the superior officers.

The police headquarters has issued several instructions to restore the morale and confidence of the members. Discussions are going on in and outside of the force to meet the demands of the members. The newly appointed IGP also spoke to the injured police members. He also ordered better treatment for them.

Apart from this, the police headquarters has also directed the metropolitan police commissioners and superintendents of police to form ‘civil safety committees’ composed of senior citizens, professionals, student representatives, political and media persons. Local leaders of Students Against Discrimination will determine the size of this committee.

Apart from this, the police headquarters has requested the people to cooperate with the police in joining the work.

Most of the police members, who were killed in the attack by the angry mob after the fall of Hasina’s government, were constable to SI rank officers. As a result, members of those ranks staged protests at various places pointing out several discriminations in the force and demanded it be solved.

IGP Mainul Islam has formed an eight-member committee to fulfil their demands.

The demands of the non-cadre police officers include the duty hour should not be more than 8 hours a day; in the case of promotion, the same approach should be followed as for the promotion of senior officers; annual casual leave should be 60 days instead of 20 days; subordinate officers have to be paid “source money” like the senior officers; the TA-DA bill of every police unit has to be paid within the first 10 days of the month; new pay scale should be formed and risk allowance should be increased.

As of November last year, the total number of members of Bangladesh Police is 213,000, according to the information of the public security division of the home ministry.

Out of this, 105,925 constables and 11,500 SIs were appointed in three terms of the Awami League government since its formation under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina in 2009. That means, more than half of the field level police members have been appointed in the 15 years of Sheikh Hasina’s government.

There are allegations that most of them were appointed based on political considerations while some were appointed due to nepotism and in exchange of money. Even in those cases, their political identity was checked through police investigation.

The police played an important role to quell the movement of the opposition before the parliamentary elections in 2014 and in the balloting that became widely known as “night time voting” in 2018.

Again, the police played a vital role to quell the opposition’s movement and harass them through “trumped up cases” before the parliamentary elections in 2024.

That section of the police was seen playing an over enthusiastic role in disproportionate use of force to quash the recent students’ movement.

Speaking about the fragile situation of the police, former IGP Nur Mohammad told Prothom Alo, “The police force has been used like a party cadre force for the last 15 years. There was no professionalism. Political leaders were beaten up by the police in areas like parliament. Bullets were fired at the beginning of suppression of political programmes. In recent times, we have seen a response to the injustice and torture that has been done to the people.”

Pointing out that the police has been taken to the brink of destruction through politicisation and used as a tool of repression, Nur Mohammad said, “Now the issues must be discussed to bring back the normal course of police operations. Those who created this situation must be brought to book. The police members should be given courage and cooperate from all levels.”

* The report, originally published in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo, has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza