Home ministry ready to tackle election-time challenges: Adviser Jahangir
Minor incidents may happen during elections. However, such occurrences should not be used to claim that there is no level playing field, he says
The home ministry is fully prepared to maintain law and order during the upcoming national election, regardless of the date set by the chief adviser, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said today (14 June).
"Minor incidents may happen during elections. However, such occurrences should not be used to claim that there is no level playing field," the adviser said while talking to reporters after visiting the Rapid Action Battalion-1 (RAB-1) Headquarters in Uttara, Dhaka.
Referring to the overall law-and-order situation in the country, he said it has significantly improved compared to the past. "This Eid-ul-Azha saw no major incidents, apart from some petty thefts and snatching," he added.
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On the issue of traffic congestion during Eid travel and in general, the adviser noted: "Ideally, a country should have 20% road coverage, whereas we have only 7%. Meanwhile, the number of vehicles is rising daily, making traffic management a major challenge."
Earlier in the day, during a visit to the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) Headquarters in Uttara, the adviser addressed the issue of arming the police.
"Different units of the police force have different needs in terms of weapons. Armed Police require different equipment than the River Police or the Industrial Police. Weapons will be supplied based on specific demands," he said.
The adviser, however, clarified that the government would refrain from supplying heavy arms to regular police forces.
