With the joint forces’ drive in Satkhira already making headlines, law enforcers are ready to launch similar operations in 15 other districts around the country in the wake of violence and sabotage over political disagreement and war crimes verdicts.
Field level police monitoring marked 49 districts as vulnerable to violence with many of them having inadequate number of police to stave off such terrorist acts.
Of the 49, police red-marked 22 districts where incidents of violence erupts frequently while in 27 other districts it is infrequent.
Law enforcers have already launched their first joint operation last Monday in Satkhira districts in which five people were killed. “It will continue unless the situation is under control,” said a police source.
They will launch joint operation in 15 other districts. They are Bagura, Jamalpur, Rajshahi, Gazipur, Chapainababganj, Chittagong, Shirajganj, Joypurhat, Chandpur, Feni, Noakhali, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Bagerhat and Munshiganj.
Hassan Mahmood Khandker, inspector general of police (IGP), said police are trained enough to foil all kinds of militancy and political violence and they are working on it.
“Police are committed to ensuring punishment of those involved in subversive acts,” he noted.
The railway too was not spared as the violence escalated across the country. In many places rail tracks were uprooted leading to a good number of rail accidents killing many and injuring hundreds. The railway police said they had identified 1041 vulnerable spots and deployed additional security forces to stop violence.
Apart from those 16, six others districts – Lalmonirhat, Natore, Narayanganj, Jhenidah, Sylhet and the capital city Dhaka – are also under police watch as there have been reports of violence regularly since October 26.
The districts that have witnessed stray incidents of violence are Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Naogaon, Kurigram, Meherpur, Pabna, Sherpur, Tangail, Maymenshing, Netrokona, Kishorgonj, Manikganj, Rangamati, Khagrachari, Jessore, Norail, Khulna, Barisal, Pirojpur, Cox’bazar and Patuakhali.
Several police supers in the violence-prone districts, on request of anonymity, said they could not contain violence as those districts lack additional police forces.
They also said Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces were deployed in those areas after the insistence of field level forces several times.
A high official of police headquarters in return for anonymity says that they are planning to improvise the security system in districts and in this regard all kinds of preparations have already been taken. Security forces will be in place as per the demand shortly.
Advocate Shamsul Haque Tuku, state minister for home, said they had issued order to law enforcers to remain alert and take all necessary steps against those involved in sabotage.
Plain-clothes police officials have been deployed at sensitive points, he said.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami acting secretary general Sahfiqur Rahman yesterday in a press statement said law enforcers in the name of joint operation was carrying out massive destruction in Satkhira, Feni, Luxmipur, Shirajganj and 35 others districts.
The press release cited the destruction of the house of Satkhira district Ameer as an example.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
