Police will guard people under threat

Field-level officers of Dhaka Metropolitan Police have been instructed to ensure security to people who are under threat.

The directive came following attacks on several publishers, bloggers, writers and uniformed personnel in the capital recently. A number of important people have also sought police protection after they had received threats from militant outfits.

DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia issued the instructions while speaking to his subordinates in the monthly crime conference at DMP headquarters yesterday. 

He also reminded the officers of their right to self defence and protect the citizens, even if it required them to use their firearms, said a police officer who attended the meeting.

Several officers-in-charge of the DMP said policemen in uniform and in plainclothes would only ensure the people under threat security at their homes, work and when they travel in their respective police station jurisdictions.

They said they would not be responsible for their security outside their station's jurisdiction.

"The commissioner has given it top priority," said a deputy commissioner of DMP.

Top officials of eight crime divisions and officers of 49 police stations have been informed about the people under security threats, he said.

The police officer said special security would be provided to the secular bloggers, writers, and publishers who have received threats, and to those different intelligence agencies think were vulnerable.

Another deputy commissioner of a crime division preferring anonymity said, "We have beefed up our visible and invisible measures following the instruction."

An officer-in charge of a DMP police station said that they have increased patrols and deployed forces in plainclothes. The security details would follow the people under threat and they have permission to shoot if the person they are protecting is attacked, the officer said.

Sharing his experiences with The Daily Star, Bappaditya Basu, an organiser of Gonojagoron Mancha who had been receiving repeated threats, yesterday said policemen from Lalbagh Police Station were giving him security when he is at home, since it was under their jurisdiction.

"But I have to go outside and elsewhere in the capital and nobody protects me then," he said, adding, "The killers may attack me taking advantage of that."

The government has to try the perpetrators of murders to ensure people's security, he said, adding, "The culture of impunity encourages killers."

On October 31, two attacks on publishers, bloggers and writers were carried out in the capital that left publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan of Jagriti Prokashani dead inside his office in Aziz Super Market in Shahbagh and Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury Tutul of Shuddhoswar Prokashani and two others injured in Lalmatia Shuddhoswar office.

No one has been arrested yet.

Claiming responsibility for the attacks, militant outfit Ansar Al Islam had tweeted and sent emails to different media outlets mentioning some professionals as their next target. 

Four secular writers and bloggers -- Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman, Ananta Bijoy Das and Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy -- were killed this year while another blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, was hacked to death in February 2013.

Meanwhile, the DMP is planning to introduce three-shift duty plan for its patrol and checkpost teams from next month to reduce the long working hours of police personnel.

"It will be done subject to availability of additional forces," said Muntasirul Islam, deputy commissioner (media) of the DMP, quoting the commissioner. 

The directives came after three attacks on uniformed policemen in which two cops -- an assistant sub-inspector and a constable -- were killed on October 22 and November 4, and a military policeman was injured on Tuesday.