No political reasons behind dismissal of 252 cadet SIs: Home affairs adviser
This development is not a major blow to the law and order situation, he assured
There were no political reasons behind the dismissal of 252 cadet sub-inspectors (SI) from the Bangladesh Police Academy in Sarda, Rajshahi on charges of indiscipline, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said.
Speaking to reporters after the third meeting of the advisory council committee on law and order affairs at the home ministry in Dhaka today (22 October), he did not specify what the charges of indiscipline were.
"Discipline is a very broad term. Its scope is vast. The academy would be able to best explain who has been discharged for what kind of disciplinary violation. I don't know this process completely.
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"We have already issued a recruitment notification to fill the vacancies. We will complete this recruitment process as soon as possible."
Jahangir also stressed that this development was not a major blow to the law and order situation.
Asked if the SIs were dismissed due to their reported political affiliations, Jahangir said, "They were discharged for academic misconduct. This happens more often than you think. Sometimes, entire courses [of a batch] are terminated due to disciplinary issues. There's no compromise when it comes to discipline.
"In this case, the number [of people] involved is small. If the entire batch had been found guilty of misconduct, they would have been dismissed as well. There's no political reason behind their dismissal. The academic instructors would be best suited to provide more details," he added.
Regarding today's law and order affairs meeting, the home affairs adviser said that they had discussed many issues.
"Law enforcement agencies will need to be more proactive in maintaining law and order. The political affiliations of criminals and those inciting protests and rallies could be revealed soon."
He continued, "Instead of holding street protests, those with various demands can discuss their issues with the committee the government has formed to address such matters. Street protests cause traffic jams and other disruptions, affecting everyone."
"To significantly reduce public inconvenience and suffering, meetings and rallies can be held at the Suhrawardy Udyan instead of the Shahbagh intersection. I would request everyone to use Suhrawardy Udyan instead of Shahbagh," said the adviser.
Earlier in the day, confirming the matter to The Business Standard, Bangladesh Police Academy Principal Additional Inspector General of Police Md Masudur Rahman Bhuiyan had also said, "The decision has been taken solely over breach of discipline. There is no political issue here."
He said the discharge letters were being issued and sent to each of the 252 trainee SIs from the 40th outsider cadet batch.
The training of this batch of 804 trainee SIs started on 11 November, 2023, and is scheduled to end on 4 November this year.
Sources said that the dismissed trainee SIs faced several charges, including not attending classes on time, not following commands from superiors, engaging in fights among themselves, skipping training sessions, and getting involved in "unethical" relationships.
Some sources even claimed that all the discharged trainees were involved with the Awami League and its various wings.
The issues discussed at today's meeting included improving law and order nationwide, preparations and security measures for the Bishwa Ijtema, combating terrorism and extremism, seizure of illegal arms, crackdown on criminals, regular press briefings by heads of law enforcement agencies to provide regular updates to the public on their actions, and swift re-arrest of recently bailed top criminals if they engage in criminal activities.
