‘Police must serve people, not power’

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday called for immediate reforms in policing and freeing the police from political patronage.

At the event, organised by Sapran at Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, former IGP Baharul Alam said reform was not only about punishing a few delinquent officers or increasing the size of the force.

“Rather, it is about addressing the question -- will the police work for the people or for those in power?” he said.

Baharul said it was also necessary to review how law enforcement members viewed the events of July.

“It is important to acknowledge that they too suffered losses -- 44 police members were also killed, and that needs to be addressed,” he said.

Dr Shafiqur Rahman, executive officer of Bangladesh Research Analysis & Information Network, called for an independent police commission.

Tajnuva Jabeen, organiser of Alternatives, said the socio-economic conditions of ordinary police officers remained poor due to a lack of fixed working hours, rest, and adequate salaries.

She stressed the need to ensure accountability within the chain of command.

“The lower ranks of the police were forced to shoot at protesters and kill them during July. The lower ranks are bound to listen to their superiors,” she said.

Sharing his experience of police persecution, Farhan Arif, joint general secretary of Chhatra Dal, said political appointments in the police must be stopped and merit should be prioritised.

Barrister Sara Hossain said police were also politically abused during the interim government to exact political vengeance.

“All the custodial deaths of people associated with Awami League that happened are unfortunately our fault,” she said.

Taskin Fahmina, senior researcher at Odhikar, called for the abolition of Rab and said no similar special force should be created.

She also stressed the need for an independent mechanism to investigate allegations of human rights violations against law enforcers.

Shoeb Abdullah, executive director of Activate Rights, said police reform was a long-standing issue and did not emerge only after the events of July 2024.

Paula Castro Neiderstam, first secretary for Human Rights, Democracy and Gender Equality at the Swedish Embassy, said public trust was key to law enforcement.

“When people trust the police, they are more willing to obey the law,” she said.

Abdullah Al Amin, Narayanganj-4 MP, and Asif Bin Ali, a political analyst and doctoral fellow at Georgia State University, also spoke.

Sapran’s Zarif Rahman and Opshora Islam Tondra presented a position paper on police reform. Former human rights commissioner Dr Shariful Islam moderated the event.