Police's role extremely important in ensuring peaceful polls: Yunus

Police's role is extremely important in ensuring that the upcoming national election is held peacefully, Chief Adviser (CA) Muhammad Yunus has said while cautioning that the force must remain vigilant so that defeated forces cannot destabilise the country. 

The chief adviser made the remarks while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the three-day-long "Police Week 2025" at Rajarbagh Police Lines in the capital this morning (29 April). 

"We know police have various limitations and challenges - manpower and logistic shortage and inefficient budget, etc. But minimising the distance to be created between police and people during the 16 years and reviving the people's trust in police force is our biggest challenge," he said.

He said restoring people's trust in police is not difficult, while the distance would be let up with the efforts from all levels.

Prof Yunus said that from the grassroots level, police must work to achieve confidence of commoners, and the government would provide all necessary support to this end.

Referring to his several speeches that the next general elections would be held between December this year and June 2026, he said the role of police is very important in holding the polls in a fair and peaceful manner.

The chief adviser said it is the responsibility of all to create an environment where people can vote freely.

He asked police to show equal attitudes to all candidates during the polls.      

Prof Yunus said when the interim government assumed power in August last, the country's law enforcement agencies were in a fragile state. 

The distance between people and police was created, and that was why the government took all necessary steps to improve the situation, he said.

He also said measures were taken to ease the suffering of people on the roads, and special drives were conducted, and necessary stimulus measures were taken to improve the mental strength of police.

With the hard work of the police, Prof Yunus said Durga Puja, Bishwa Ijtema, Eid-ul-Fitr, Bangla Nababarsha, and other festivals were observed peacefully.

The country's law and order has been brought under control due to efforts taken by the law enforcing agencies, he said.

The chief adviser also urged the police to play a strong role in preventing violence against women, ensuring that women from all classes and professions get support from police by calling to police hotline.

About the role of police in the country's liberation war, he said in the black night at Rajarbagh Police Lines on 25 March in 1971, just prior to beginning the liberation war, Bengali police members waged an armed resistance for the first time, and this history could not be forgotten.

In the history of the Bangladesh Police, it is a chapter of great pride, he added.

Paying tribute to the police members who were martyred in the 1971 liberation war, he said, for ages it was the great aspiration of people that the rights of all would be established and there would not be any discrimination.

The law-enforcing agencies must play a big role in fulfilling this aspiration, he added.

The Chief Adviser said an evil quarter is trying its best to break the unity of the country's people, so "you should always stay alert to resist it to protect the nation". 

Terming the police the friends of commoners, he said the police force must establish this image despite being hard to do. 

"We are dreaming of building a discrimination-free democratic Bangladesh based on justice. We are dreaming of building a second Bangladesh. The July mass uprising has created the opportunity to do so. We should not lose this opportunity," he said.    

"The police force has faced public anger for following illegal and unjust orders during the autocratic regime. In the past 15 years, the Awami League government transformed the police into a partisan force. As a result, many honest police members had to pay the price," Yunus said. 

The CA urged the police force to play a role in establishing human rights and justice.

He praised the force's good work and emphasised the need for police to take a more active role in establishing human rights and justice.

This year, 62 police members received Bangladesh Police Medals in recognition of their exceptional contributions from 11 January of last year to 28 February of this year. 

The chief adviser presented badges to the medal-winning police officers.