The Incredible and Inspiring Stories of Monirul Islam: His Rendezvous with Policing Development

Sustainable security has been emerging as an epoch-making discourse in a time of vulnerabilities, uncertainties, complexities, and ambiguities at the global level in this twenty-first century. Studies, scholars, and practitioners have come up with new ideas, critical thinking, and cutting-edge solutions to protect, preserve, and procreate the long-cherished humanity's urge for peace. Police, at home and abroad, remain pivotal in this particular context. The resilient police practitioners become our heroes; sometimes become the internal peacemakers or stars, in the front, sometimes from behind the background, in the sojourn of sustainable security.  As we have watched movies, thrillers, and journals, we found many of them even in real life, for example, Kiran Bedi, Bill Bratton, Mary Doyle, Frank Serpico, Jack Osbourne, Dean Cain, and so on.  In Bangladesh, Monirul Islam, Additional Inspector General of Police, and Chief of Special Branch, emerges among us as one of the top cops to ensure sustainable security in societies, sometimes from the front, sometimes from behind.

Monirul Islam has been widely and remarkably familiar for his outstanding brilliance, mild speech, and sober and sanguine approach. Nowadays, due to his appointment as chief of the Special Branch, journalists, well-wishers, and colleagues unable to notice his candid, mild, and modest speech and briefing before the media. During his time in Detective Branch, and Chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes, he was a fascinating as well as familiar face in the beautiful place of Ramna. He briefed and faced more than hundreds of broadcasting and print media interviews, Mr. Islam's choice of words, collocations, pace, and intonation, even in times of provocative questions, his mildness, wit, and wisdom remain a mystery for many of us, how a professional in the hot seat, can be so cool!

In today's Bangladesh, Monirul Islam's childhood, academic journey, and attainment in Bangladesh Civil Service inspire many students those who want to enroll in public universities, those who want to become the beacon of hope, having a struggling life, and those who aspire for competitive public exams, particularly for BCS. Born in a middle-class family in Gopalganj, after completing his school exam, he journeyed to Dhaka for Dhaka College for his intermediate and tertiary education in Dhaka University.  During those days, the roads, rivers, and culture was not that much wider as it is today. Meanwhile, it was a critical challenge for him, but due to his dedication, commitment, and hard work; he dared to make it happen and successfully enrolled himself in Dhaka College and Dhaka University. During the decade of ninety, the accomplishment of academic excellence, because of political unrest and turmoil, was tough, hectic, and procrastinating.  Notwithstanding all these challenges, and hardships, he made it happen, moreover, surprised his parents by being a champion in the 15th Bangladesh Civil Service examination.

From then on, Mr Islam immersed himself as a professional Police Officer, though he chose a Police cadre to be a detective, fortunately, his passion is somehow connected with his choice, as most of his career time is being attached to detective activities. Wherever he was posted, he left with some professional and developmental footprint. He showed the way of briefing journalists regarding criminal issues, apprehensions, and recoveries to let citizens know what really Police do. From DB, DMP, he pioneered counterterrorism and transnational wing to foster a criminal justice system regarding terrorism and create counter-narratives. He enhanced academia and Police for large-scale research, collaboration, counter-narrative discourse, and so on. He is a transformative Police executive who lobbied to establish the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit, popularly known as CTTC. 

As a result of his leadership action, citizens have been saved from the scourge of terrorist collateral collisions. At present, he is leading the country's oldest and epical (epical in the sense that it collected and collocated documents of leadership and political movements of the Father of the Nation) intelligence branch smart approaches. The transformation of SB from analog to digital and digital to smart is eye-opening. The scaling up of the smart and digital drive of SB will continue to achieve its perspective plan for 2030. For all his professional spirit, uniqueness, innovation, and smartness, he is decorated with the State's highest and most prestigious medals: the Bangladesh Police Medal and the President Police Medal.

In our societies, still, there is a taboo; can a police officer be poetic or prosaic? This debate ends with Monirul Islam as he connects the dots with many articles, research, and books. He wrote on extremism along with Dhaka University's late Professor Zia Ahmed. His solo writing on policing counterterrorism experience and expertise Pothvola Pothikera gains momentum among readers circle. The sweet and sour journey of life and Policing is depicted in his Pirito Pirone Jibon, highly introspective.

In today's competitive Bangladesh, Additional Inspector General of Police Monirul Islam's professional policing stewardship and innovation remain so inspiring to many new generation police officers and probationers as well and his academic struggle from a rural boy to an urban landscape has been an indomitable inspiration to many students those who compete for public service.

 
Md. Manzurul Islam is a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.