Retired officials also being engaged to mange traffic in Dhaka

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An initiative has been taken to involve students in traffic control efforts as well

 

This list includes members from the Armed Forces Division, the Police Department, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Ansar and VDP, Bangladesh Navy, and the Air Force.

The responsibility of compiling this list has been assigned to the DMP.

This decision was made during the fourth meeting of the law and order advisory council on 24 November. The convener of this committee is home adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.

A senior official at the home ministry told Prothom Alo that retired law enforcement officers will be temporarily employed on a daily basis for traffic control.

After the fall of the Awami League government amid the student-people’s uprising, there has been disorder and chaos in vehicular movement in the capital.

In many areas, traffic police are not performing their duties. In some places, police presence is absent after evening, leading to severe traffic congestion in those areas. As part of the efforts to resolve this issue, the interim government has trained 700 students in traffic management. Some students have already been hired on a part-time basis in certain areas. Now, retired members of law enforcement agencies are being included in efforts to control traffic in Dhaka.

Meanwhile, from 5 July to 5 August, the home ministry formed a three-member committee to prevent fake, false, and harassing cases that arose in the wake of the student uprising.

The committee includes the deputy commissioners (DC), superintendents of police (SP), and District Legal Aid Officers from the respective districts. This committee will review and select fake, false, and harassing cases in their respective districts.

An official at the home minisgtry stated that in many cases, innocent people were falsely implicated. The committee will also review those cases. However, law adviser professor Asif Nazrul stated on 19 November that nearly all criminal cases filed between 1 July and 5 August have been withdrawn.

To control the spread of false and baseless audio and video propaganda on social media, the law and order advisory council has decided to create counter-narratives. Each government department has been instructed to present these counter-narratives through their spokespersons to the public.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the upcoming Biswa Ijtema, the home ministry is holding multiple meetings with followers of both Zubair and Sad Kandhalvi.

Zubair’s followers have stated that they will not allow Maulana Sad to attend the Ijtema at the Tongi ground. On the other hand, Maulana Sad’s followers have been demanding that the government allow him to come to Dhaka. This issue was discussed in the advisory council committee meeting.

The home ministry is seeking a resolution by negotiating with both factions of the Tablighi Jamaat. As in previous years, the Biswa Ijtema will be held in two phases in Tongi, Gazipur. The first phase will take place from 31 January to 2 February, during which Zubair’s followers will participate. The second phase will be from 7 to 9 February, with Maulana Sad’s followers in attendance.

After the student uprising on 5 August, following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, many top criminals were released on bail. This issue was discussed in the fourth meeting of the law and order advisory council. The meeting decided that these released criminals would be kept under surveillance. If they engage in criminal activities again, they will be quickly arrested.

Brigadier General Syed Mohammad Motaher Hossain, the Inspector General of Prisons, has confirmed that 43 accused and top criminals involved in 43 cases have been released on bail since 5 August. Among those released are Abbas Ali, known as “Killer Abbas” in police records from Mirpur, Sheikh Mohammad Aslam, known as “Sweden Aslam” from Tejgaon, Imamul Hasan Helal, known as “Pichchi Helal” from Mohammadpur, and Sanjidul Islam, known as “Imon” from Hazaribagh.