At a time when police and law enforcement agencies carried out countrywide anti-drug drive early this year with indiscriminate shoot out of drug dealers based on a list prepared by the Home Ministry, it is quite surprising that a list prepared by the Prime Minister Office over 300 police men were identified by field level intelligence for involvement in drug trade, but they were later cleared by police investigation instead of arresting and producing them to face punitive action.
The anti-drug dive killed at least 200 people based on a list, mainly in police shoot without allowing them to get a transparent trial to prove their guilt before they were killed. We have always said criminals specially people such as drug traders and its syndicate members should be subdued in iron hand, but not by secret killing.
It is wrong to take life unconstitutionally without trial in a court of law. The protection of life, the most basic right of civilised living, is taken as meaningless. But time is bound to come when the people will be able to own their state and have a government of their own. The accountability will be restored to punish secret killings. So nobody should, in his sense, feel free to kill people.
Secret killing is tolerated under brutal autocracy. The long list of policemen as identified by the Prime Minister Office suggests that many police men will have to be killed secretly. What is a puzzle is if the government can kill people freely without proving their guilt in a court trial, then why killing by terrorists will be as a grave offence.
The Prime Minister Office list of policemen prepared in February this year identified cops from constable to Officer-In-Charge and such others at the field level for engaging in drug trade and sheltering drug dealers and their cohorts. But police administration in different districts surprisingly found ‘no link’ of 100 cops to narcotics trade and smuggling while officials in other districts claim they have taken punitive actions against ‘most’ of those 200 in the list but failed to give details. Some district officials said they have transferred the policemen on the list to other places as per a report in national daily. Anybody will see by such different actions at different levels of the government as chaotic and regrettable.
The Prime Minister Office list of policemen prepared in February this year identified cops from constable to Officer-In-Charge and such others at the field level for engaging in drug trade and sheltering drug dealers and their cohorts. But police administration in different districts surprisingly found ‘no link’ of 100 cops to narcotics trade and smuggling while officials in other districts claim they have taken punitive actions against ‘most’ of those 200 in the list but failed to give details. Some district officials said they have transferred the policemen on the list to other places as per a report in national daily. Anybody will see by such different actions at different levels of the government as chaotic and regrettable.
The Prime Minister Office at first forwarded the list to police headquarters for action. It was then sent to respective districts for verification and action and they resolved the matter surprisingly exonerating the policemen on the list.
As per the list 34 of the cops were stationed in Khulna, 24 in Rangpur, 16 in Brahmanbaria, 13 in Gaibandha, 10 in Kurigram, five each in Cox’s Bazar and Lalmonirhat. The list goes longer What is noticeable is that senior police officials in Khulna, Brahmanbaria and Kurigram and some other districts claimed they investigated the allegations but found nothing, although the list had specific charges against police men found in the list.
The OC of Akhaura police station was allegedly very close to a local wanted drug dealer on the list. The OC of Bijoynagar was reportedly very close to Upazila Awami League joint secretary who was selling Phensedyl in the area for years. On April 23, police arrested a DB assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in Rangamati, along with 4,000 yaba pills.
Narayanganj DB arrested an ASI with 50,000 yaba pills on March 8. DB arrested a police constable selling yaba in the Mymensing court premises. Only recently two policemen were arrested for possessing 1,050 yaba pills in Khulna city’s Khalishpur area.
Somebody must feel that justice is not whimsical and the government cannot go on being unaccountable about who are drug dealers and who are not. It is different when a government is a vile autocrat like president Duterte of Philippines.
