Targeting law enforcers

Targeting law enforcers must be unequivocally condemned by every peace loving person. Those who have hurled petrol bombs at a police vehicle engaged in law and order duty causing grievous injuries to 13 police personnel cannot be considered as political workers. This can only be an act of miscreants.

We have been greatly distressed at the increasingly violent character that the so called blockade and hartals have assumed. This is, unfortunately, repetition of what we had witnessed in the latter half of 2013, but has become only more intense. And when the police become target of miscreants during a so called political programme the government cannot take a reactive stance but become a proactive player.

Therefore, while it is the bounden duty of the government to ensure safety of its citizens, and that must be ensured on a priority basis, we feel strongly that a robust law and order prescription will not necessarily stem the widespread violence that we are witnessing, because it is essentially a political issue and the causal relevance of the prevailing situation must be acknowledged by the government. And this is where a proactive stance by ruling coalition is essential. Thus, it is in the political realm that the government can exhibit its wisdom by initiating necessary actions that would help address the current unrest.

We would hope sanity would prevail and the BNP would call upon its activists to desist from violence, and, despite these attacks on them, the police would continue to perform their task of providing safety and security to the people in a non-partisan manner.