Policeman's love

I would like to start the writing with a much-talked-about incident in Chattogram. It became talk of the town thanks to media.

It was 8pm on January 7, 2019. A woman with mental disorder was wincing in labor pain beside a drain filled with filthy water in front of the Ethnological Museum in Agrabad of Chattogram city. A good number of onlookers were witnessing wailing of the woman. After some while, the woman gave birth to a cuddly baby on footpath.

The newborn was lying on the dust of footpath. None was approached to assist the helpless mentally ill mother and her baby who has no paternal identity. All people present there enjoying the wailing of the mother and the newborn.

Can a conscientious person remain unmoved in such a situation? Not at all. Within moments, a man appeared at the scene. He rushed the mother and baby to a nearby hospital. He saved two lives spending from his pocket.

The man who saved the helpless mother and the newborn is a proud member of Bangladesh police. His name is Masudur Rahman. He works as a sub inspector (SI) at Doublemooring Police Station in the port city. Masud has widely been praised throughout the country for his humanitarian work. He has set an example to be followed and brightened the image of the police force.

It is not correct that policemen only do bad things. There are many humanitarian police members in our country. There are a plethora of examples of humanitarian works done by police. In fact, policemen are born to do so. The full form of 'POLICE' bears the proof of this: P- Polite, O-Obedient, L-Loyal, I- Intelligent, C- Courageous, E- Efficient.

In other words, behavior of policemen will be pleasant and humanitarian. A policeman wins the hearts of people through pleasant behavior and keep people away from wrongdoings. A policeman can set an example by doing this what a common man cannot do.

An ideal policeman is an asset of the country. He or she provides different legal assistance to people. It is also true some police members get involved in criminal activities being deviated from his ideology and sense of responsibility. They earn money through illegal means.

They cannot be regarded as humanitarian to people. On the other hand, a humane, honest, intelligent and courageous police member can uphold the image of his force and maintain law and order in the country. Thus they become the friends of people.

Police in Bangladesh perform a lot of duties including maintaining law and order, checking crimes, arresting criminals, taking cases, assisting in trials, keeping discipline on roads, providing protocol and security to VIPs. They have to collect intelligence information and take preventive measures.

At present, there are 1 lakh 95 thousand 520 personnel in Bangladesh police. According to the UN standard, the ratio of citizens and policemen is 400:1 during peacetime. But the ratio in Bangladesh is 822:1. 7 percent manpower in Bangladesh police are female. Members of Bangladesh police have been taking part in UN peace mission in different countries in the world along with other forces. Female police personnel were included in the peace mission from 2010.

Till date, around 10 thousand police members have taken part in the mission. At present, over one thousand policemen have been working in nine missions of the United Nations. Among the serving Bangladeshi police personnel over three hundred are female. As policemen are now equipped with firearms, they can prove their efficiency. Terrorist attack in Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka can become an example. Police force could  handle the deadly attack with efficiency.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, worthy daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has announced that militancy and drugs will be rooted out from the country at any cost.

Law enforcing agencies including police have started combing operations against drugs throughout the country including Taknaf and Cox's Bazar with a view to protecting people from this menace. Special drives are being carried out in Teknaf for containing the Yaba trade. The drives will continue till the area will be free from Yaba. People from all classes are necessary to this end. It is not possible for police force to eliminate drugs without the assistance of local people.

Bangladesh police is a member of international police organization Interpol. There is an Interpol desk in police headquarters. Information are exchanged through this desk.

Trainings are being provided to police members on forensic, cyber crimes, money laundering, post-blast investigation, crime scene investigation, basic information and communication and computer. As a result, police force is now more modern and responsible. Police personnel are being humanitarian day by day.

Cox's Bazar is a tourist district in Bangladesh. This district has mentionable scenic beauties including the longest sea beach, marine drive in the world and coral island Saint Martin. 20-25 lakh tourists from home and abroad come to Cox's Bazar to enjoy the beauty of nature. But two things frustrate the tourists: drug smuggling and Rohingya issue.

Around nine lakh Rohingya people took shelter in Ukhia and Teknaf of Cox's Bazar being evicted from their homesteads in Myanmar's Rakhine state after October 25 in 2017. They have been living in 30 refugee camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been honored across the globe as 'Mother of Humanity' for her humanitarian move to shelter the displaced Rohingyas. The image of Bangladesh has brightened.

The government of Bangladesh is making efforts for resolving the Rohingya crisis. Police has been struggling to control a huge number of Rohingyas. Some 60,530 Rohingya men and women have been nabbed while they were trying to flee their camps and sent back there. A total of 566 brokers have been jailed by the mobile courts on charges of trafficking Rohingyas from their camps and other criminal activities.

Police seized Yaba tablets worth around seven crore taka from different areas in the district in last several months. Police members have been working relentlessly to maintain law and order in Rohingya people along with root out drugs and contain crimes. They have to do so as they are the friends of people.I would like to conclude my writing narrating another incident.

The heart-rending incident occurred on year back. It was early in the morning on February 8, 2018. A boat laden with Rohingya people capsized with 54 passengers on board in Khurermukh area of Sabrang union in Teknaf. Police and BGB personnel with assistance from local fishermen recovered 51 victims one after another. But three babies aged 4-9 months weren't traced out. Mothers of the missing minors were wailing on the sea beach. They were cursing the military junta of Myanmar for that tragedy.

They were praying to Almighty Allah for getting their children alive. Those who witnessed the scene that day couldn't hold their tears. Police members couldn't remain silent. They jumped in the sea. After a frantic search, they recovered three children-Umme Solima (8 months), Md Ayub (7 months) and Abdul Nabi (9 months).

Crying mothers took the children on their laps and started cuddling. But all on a sudden, they stopped to cuddle their beloved children. They started wailing in a louder voice. All present there had understood that the children weren't alive.

BGB members picked up the Rohingya men and women to their vehicle and started journey toward the camps. Three bodies of the little children were lying on dust under the custody of police. It was the duty of police members to bury the little angel's bodies. Where feelings, love of people end, a policeman's love starts from there.


The writer is the additional police super (administration), Cox's Bazar