Editorial
Jamaat targeting police
Take suitable actions to deter
There could not have been a more graphic illustration of how the Jamaati mobs have targeted the law enforcing agencies, particularly the police, than the front-page picture appearing in this newspaper on Sunday. The picture demonstrates the bestial attitude of the party cadres who incessantly beat up a helpless policeman doing his duty.
We condemn the act in the strongest possible terms. It is absolutely unacceptable, and given the ratcheting up of the level of targeted violence of Jamaat since November of last year, we are constrained to say that this has taken terroristic character.
Admittedly, the police have been known for its highhandedness and ham-handed handling of a situation from time to time, but they have never had to face a situation like this. What we are witnessing now is a completely new phenomenon, to go after the police as a deliberate tactics. Or it might be also a strategy of Jamaat to provoke the police to take precipitate actions that would result in the loss of life and provide them with the opportunity to indulge in the politics of the dead body.
It is also, perhaps, their idea to show how easy targets the police are, and this will, we are afraid, apart from sapping confidence of the public on the police as the keeper of law and order, might also have a demonstrative effect, and other criminals might subject the police to the same form of attack. This is a dangerous scenario to contemplate.
While we commend the police for displaying a remarkable degree of restraint till now, the risk is that under such circumstances restraint may be short-lived and the reaction from the police may be violent too, which should not occur.
We suggest that the police should assume such policy, short of firing to kill, that would deter anyone targeting them for attack. And they must also revamp the operational procedures so none of their members is left singly at the mercy of a violent mob. There cannot be a more morale-sapping scene, both for the police and the public than that of the police seemingly helpless at the mercy of a violent mob.
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