‘Earlier, the police used to file ghost cases, now the people are doing that’
Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said, ‘Earlier, the police used to file ghost cases. They used to give 10 names and 50 anonymous accused. Now the people are giving 10 names and 50 anonymous ones.’
He said this while answering questions from journalists at the Media Center after a view-sharing meeting with the law enforcement agencies of Dampara Police Lines on Tuesday (November 19) afternoon.
The Home Affairs Adviser said, I would roughly describe the current law and order situation in Chattogram. However, it is still not satisfactory. We are trying to bring people to satisfaction. You say that the law and order situation is not good. But you do not say when it was good. This time the puja was better than the other times, but you also said a little less. It was not said as much as we expected. But you needed to say a little more.
He said, "Members of various forces were present in the meeting, their various problems were discussed. There was a discussion on how to further improve the law and order situation, I also seek the cooperation of journalists in this regard. Without the help and cooperation of journalists, it is not possible for the law and order forces to do much. I say this again and again. If journalists help a little, the situation will improve." Advertisement regarding the morale of the police after the movement, he said, "Hasn't the morale of the police that has been lost gradually increased compared to before? It is increasing slowly. For example, my morale. Does the morale that we have at that time when we lose a relative change in two days? No. It takes some time, at some point we forget about those things. Similarly, we need to give some time to the morale of the police. And there is nothing that I can say and it will happen. It is not like magic, I wanted it to happen. They all need to be given time for this." Stating that the police members who did not join at the scheduled time after the movement will be punished, he said, "Those who did not join are criminals in our eyes." They will be brought under the law. Those who are not seen being found are sometimes being caught. Those who are not coming are being caught. Please help us with some information, we will catch them.
In response to a question from journalists regarding various cases after the fall of the government, the Home Affairs Adviser said, earlier the police used to file fake cases. They used to give 10 names and 50 anonymous accused. Now the people are giving 10 names and 50 anonymous ones. We spent money and advertised in newspapers for this so that the people know. If there is an actual case, you should be caught. Have any of those who have such cases been caught? It is either someone from within you or they have created hostility. The case was not given by my police, RAB, army, Ansar. The public gave it. For that, you have not been subjected to any harassment, for which we should be even more grateful.
Referring to the false propaganda of the media of the neighboring country, namely India, Lieutenant General (Retd)Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has requested the journalists, "Shall I tell you one more thing, that we do not make mistakes, we also make mistakes. If we do something here, please point it out. If we take money from someone, please tell us too." But I have one request - do not spread false news. Do not say what did not happen. But the neighboring country gets an advantage in this. The media of our country has a good reputation; the media of the neighboring country does not have such a good reputation. They spread lies the most. And you (journalists) can counter that lie. People will not believe what I say as much as they believe what you say. I request you to counter it.
Asked whether there is any incitement from any other country against Bangladesh in the situation that has arisen, he said, "You are the ones who are seeing the incitement from other countries. First of all, I told you how much the media of the neighboring country is lying."
Recently, various rumors are being spread about ships coming from Pakistan, how is the matter being viewed? In response to journalists' questions, the adviser said, "This ship is coming from the Middle East. It came from there, went to a country, and from there it is coming to our country. Are ships from any country banned from entering our country? Are we captives to someone who will only serve them? My country is above all. Dates, onions, potatoes - these are needed during the upcoming Ramadan. Will we not allow these to come? Those who are distributing these are our enemies.
At least 50 armed men have been identified in Chattogram in the July killings. But the CMP has arrested only one of them and the RAB has arrested four. The rest could not be arrested. Even the weapons could not be recovered - when attention was drawn to this, he immediately ordered the police commissioner present to list the armed men and take action to arrest them.
At this time, the Director General (DG) of the Rapid Action Battalion AKM Shahidur Rahman, the new Inspector General of Police (IGP) Md. Mainul Islam, Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Farida Khanam and Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasib Aziz were present.