Editorial
Industrial police
It must work professionally and impartially
The idea of an exclusive police force for the industrial zones is a good one. The home minister has said that the force will be employed to make the industrial areas of Dhaka, Ghazipur, Naraynganj and Chittagong free from violence perpetrated by 'outsiders'. What we understand is that its focus will be primarily on the safety and security of the garment units by protecting them from destructive activities.
Certainly, the spate of violence that one had noticed over the last several years in the RMG sector, and one that had brought it almost to the precipice was totally unacceptable. It was disconcerting to see the rather inexplicable manner in which trouble in one factory very quickly infected adjacent ones and even ones that were very far off. The incitement phenomenon is incomprehensible, and one finds it hard to believe that notwithstanding the grievances of the workers they would be involved in wanton destruction of the very industrial units that provide them with their livelihood.
However, protection of public, and indeed private property is something that should be guaranteed, it being the bounden duty of the sate to ensure that. And thus we wonder, given the sensitivity of the industrial sector, particularly the RMG sector, such an arrangement for law enforcing agencies to be in place, to either anticipate a situation or react quickly to arrest a situation from going out of hand, had not been made till now.
We take particular note of the training module and the subjects included therein, but ten days is hardly enough to acquaint the policemen on labour psychology, or owner psychology, for that matter. And one wonders whether it is for the police to interpose themselves between the owners and the labourers as 'arbiters' of disputes as has been, reportedly, suggested by the rector of the Police Staff College.
While we welcome the development, there are a few things that we would like to point out with regard to keeping peace in the industrial areas. It seems that a complementary mechanism to ensure that problems do not occur in the first place, admittedly an ideal situation not always easy to attain, or do not go out of hand, is missing. There is hardly any outlet for the workers in the RMG sector to ventilate their grievances in the absence of a bargaining agent, namely, reformed trade unions dissociated from the big political parties.
It must be kept in mind that in keeping peace the industrial police do not become the handmaidens of the owners, meddling in the disputes. They should not only be seen to be impartial but should actually refrain from taking sides.
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