If special interest of certain groups overtakes the public interest, a conflict can arise among the institutions that are dedicated to protect the public interest or the balance of power among the institutions can be threatened.
This fact has once again come to the fore due to the government’s unusually hasty move to empower Ansar Battalion to make arrests, frisk and confiscate properties ahead of the election, resulting in uneasiness over the open objection to the move by police.
The ‘Ansar Battalion Bill, 2023’, empowering Ansar, was placed in the parliament on Monday and sent to the parliamentary committee for submitting a report after vetting the bill within three days.
Police raised objections against the bill and maintained that passing of the bill might lead to breach of discipline and conflict might emerge between the two forces. Meanwhile, the Ansar said it would be tough for the force to work if they are not empowered.
As a result, this issue has added a new dimension in the discussion amidst the already tense political situation in the country.
Two things are mainly being discussed. The one factor is why the government has become abnormally agile to hand over these powers to the Ansar battalion with the next election just two months away. Given the precedence of endeavors of using the law enforcers by the ruling parties in the past elections, it cannot be ruled out that the recent initiative to empower the Ansar forces derives from a plan of the government centering the next general election. This might also be considered as part of a plan to create terror and intimidation.
Another point is that a proposal to increase the power of Ansar Battalion was sent to the home ministry in 2017 but it was stalled at the time due to objections from the police. The police at that time came up with a view that if several forces have similar authorities to enforce laws, various problems, including misunderstanding and differences of opinions as well as inter-force feuds may arise.
Under such a circumstance, the home ministry should have thoroughly discussed the issue with officials of both forces and taken all necessary initiatives to clear all probable conflict first before advancing with the move to increase the authority of Ansar battalion. The meeting of the home minister with officials of both forces that failed to bring any positive outcome clearly proved that there was no prior discussion from the ministry with the forces.
The misgivings and distrust are already there among the political parties about holding a free and participatory election. Amid these circumstances, giving one force the authority to make arrests, frisk and seize properties at abnormal speed upsetting another force cannot bode well for the interest of people.
As the issue is too sensitive, the government should not take any hasty decision over it. If necessary, the decision can be taken upon constructive dialogue with experts and officials of both the forces. In short, the government has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that increasing the power of Ansar battalion does not have any connection with influencing the upcoming election at all. It is the government who has to prove that the bill has been placed for public interest, not for the interest of any vested group.