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Joint security forces will once again conduct raids for weapons, says Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, adviser to the interim government.
He says weapons looted from the police have yet to be recovered and are being used against the public.
The adviser made the remarks around 3:00 am on Thursday in front of a crowd that had surrounded the home affairs advisor's house on Dhaka’s Minto Road to protest students and members of the public being fired upon in Hatia, bdnews24.com reports.
Adviser Asif said, "You have seen that the police have become more active compared to the first three to four months [of the interim government]. If someone organises a procession and they are arrested... I want to assure you that appropriate action will be taken against those who committed incidents like [the Hatia] attack by tomorrow and that forces of law and order will take action."
The crowd then demanded the recovery of weapons. In response, Asif said:
"Weapons were looted from police stations during the mass uprising. At that time, there were clashes with the police in many places due to anger over the way the police were used against the people. Taking this opportunity, certain vested interests looted weapons. And many of those who were given weapons licenses for political reasons during the 16 years of the Awami League have not surrendered their weapons.”
“Most of the licenced weapons have been surrendered to the police, but many of the looted weapons have not been recovered. They are being used against the people. We have come to know through intelligence agencies that the defeated fascist forces are trying to smuggle weapons into Bangladesh from different places and destabilise the situation in the country. We will give instructions from the highest level of the government to restart the joint force operations that were initially conducted in this regard and quickly recover any weapons that are available.”
If the “defeated fascist forces” become a threat to the people of Bangladesh, they will be shown no mercy, Asif said.
He said, “In a country with such a large population, the law-enforcing institutions have been destroyed during the long stretch of fascism. They were made the slaves of political parties. Overcoming this requires a long process. The forces of law and order will not relent from taking action against those who are now trying to create undesirable situations in different places. You will see the results of this from tomorrow. You know that our intelligence agencies were also damaged under fascist rule. So if there are any suspects or weapons anywhere, please help us by providing that information. We will try to take action as soon as we have it.”
Everyone who has tried to stage inflammatory protests so far has been arrested, he said.
“Fifteen or 20 people took out processions, but within two to three days, the main organisers have been arrested.”
One of the people in the crowd complained that bribery and extortion are now going on at every police station. When asked whether effective action will be taken in this regard, the advisor said, “This is a psychological problem. I would not call it a 16-year problem, this bribery problem is a 53-year problem, a problem of the British police. We cannot change this problem overnight, even if we want to. However, you know about the report submitted by the reform commission. Through the implementation of that report, we can expect that the police will never again become a slave to any party.
“The police will become people-oriented. In future, the police will act as a watchdog to ensure that the administration is forced to work properly if they are not doing so."