Editorial
DMP's political intelligence office
Move is uncalled for and we reject it totally
THE move by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police to set up a new wing, the Political Intelligence Office, to monitor the activities of political parties, student bodies and industrial workers raises a number of uncomfortable questions, for obvious reasons. At a time when the police department should be focusing on the deteriorating law and order situation, especially in the capital, such a move by the police authorities can only bring into question the motives of the powers that be. We at this newspaper would like to make it clear, in unambiguous terms, that the step is fraught with risks the nation can surely do without.
The decision to set up the PIO is all the more intriguing because there are already such bodies as the Special Branch and the Detective Branch at work. These two bodies have largely been responsible for the kind of work that the PIO is now to be entrusted with. And, of course, there are the DGFI and NSI, which are understandably concerned with matters of national security. Coming back to the PIO issue, we are compelled to raise the question of how the idea was devised and by whom in light of existing realities. Are we to suppose that the SB and DB have not been performing well and to the satisfaction of the nation? Assuming that the answer to that question is in the affirmative, we certainly do not think that setting up a new department is the proper response. We think the more proper course for the authorities would be to improve the quality and performance of the DB and SB rather than add a new outfit to the police administration. The move, as it were, smacks of a surveillance of political parties.
In a culture where the popular yearning for democracy has always been a pronounced affair, such a move cannot result in a positive outcome. We therefore cannot but reject it as totally uncalled for. We hope that the caretaker government will step back from such a move, for if it does not it will only squander the degree of goodwill that it still has among the public regarding its objectives.
Meanwhile, it will be worthwhile for the government to concentrate on issues that truly matter. We have been hearing of reforms being envisaged for the police. To what extent those reforms have been undertaken, if they have been undertaken at all, is what the nation needs to dwell on. The police are symbolic of the state in that they are responsible for law and order and ensuring the rights and privileges of citizens. Let that be the principle on which the police work. Let nothing be done that can only ruffle public sensibilities.
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