The Home Minister ordered the arrest of Awami League members even without any cases
The Home Affairs Adviser of the interim government, Lieutenant General (Retd.) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, has instructed the police to bring those members of the Awami League who are terrorists under the purview of the law, even if there are no cases filed against them. He warned that action would also be taken against police officers if they fail to do so.
On Wednesday (17 December) in the afternoon, the Home Affairs Adviser gave this directive to the police after an event in Narayanganj.
On his way back, student leaders blocked his path. They placed a seven-point demand, including the recovery of weapons looted during the July uprising, the arrest of Awami League leaders, members of the Osman family and their associates, strengthening security at the border, arresting the prime accused in the attack on Osman Hadi, and keeping police stations and courts free from political influence.
Calling the demands “reasonable,” the Home Affairs Adviser said, “Some steps have already been taken to implement these demands.”
The student leaders claimed that the police are not arresting Awami League terrorists on the pretext that there are no cases against them.
In response to that demand, the Home Affairs Adviser called over the District Superintendent of Police present at the scene, Mizanur Rahman Munshi, and instructed him, “Whether there is any case against an Awami League terrorist or not is not something to look at. You must immediately bring them under the purview of the law. And if you fail to bring them under the law, action will also be taken against you.”
Regarding the question of the recovery of recently looted and illegal weapons, the student leaders also raised the issue of the Home Affairs Adviser’s “potato-onion remarks.” In reply, the Adviser said, “That was a programme of the Ministry of Agriculture, so I asked about the problems of that ministry and about farmers. As for other problems, every week we sit with journalists at the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
