Shakeup in Sylhet police

However, the government move to go for a major shakeup in Sylhet police administration appears to be one of those cosmetic and palliative measures that are adopted every time something goes awfully wrong. There was a reshuffling in the police set-up after the shrine blast and the government has deemed it necessary to repeat the exercise. The logic behind the move is perhaps that since the police failed to prevent the bomb attacks, bringing in new faces is worth trying. We saw a similar manoeuvring in Chittagong police after the mystery surrounding the abduction of business magnet Jamaluddin remained unsolved for months together.

Such moves hardly ever pay any dividends; they are merely an eye-wash having little impact, other than creating the impression that the government has after all woken up. In case of Sylhet, the cops on the transfer list are suspected to have links with the outlaws. Now, this is a serious charge, and if found true, would call for far sterner measures than relocating the officials concerned. Another point to be taken note of is that usually it's the low and mid level officials who are transferred. Don't the police high-ups have any responsibility in the failed performance of the officers and cops under their charge?

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The need, obviously, is to delve deeper into the issue of police administration deficiencies. There is no point in changing the bottle if its contents remain the same. The failure of the police must be attributed to some built-in flaws and limitations of the whole system. The idea of police reform has been articulated for the umpteenth time by the intelligentsia, but it has remained a non-starter to this day. Reform might be a long-drawn and costly proposition. Yet, there is no substitute for it.