/ Police didn’t follow int’l standards while using lethal weapons: IGP

Inspector General of Police Mainul Islam today said international standards were not followed during the use of lethal weapons by police.
Police failed to adhere to the standards in home, which they have maintained during their UN missions, he said replying to journalists at the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) headquarters.
“We are working on the issue,” he added.
After hours-long closed-door meeting at the CMP headquarters, he briefed the media around 6:00pm, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent.
Earlier in the morning, the IGP arrived in the port city and chaired a meeting with senior officials of the Chittagong Range Police at the district police lines in Halishahar.
When asked about police reforms, the IGP responded, “Reforming police is a lengthy process which requires a lot of time. It is a mammoth task. We are having discussions on this issue. Besides the interim government reform committee, police also formed a committee of its own for reform based on a 11-point demand raised by policemen.”
“In the reform, we want to emphasise one point which is the use of lethal weapons by police. International standards were not followed in using lethal weapons. Although our police officers maintain such standards when participating in UN missions, this was not done here,” he said.
The IGP further said, “After August 5, we changed our course of training emphasising on ‘soft skills’ to improve public-police relations. We are focussing on areas like communication and attitude, so that police can be recognised as a force for the mass people.”
He added, “Each death, whether of a police officer, student, or civilian, will be fairly investigated. In the mass protests, 44 police were killed and around 2,500 others were injured. The police officers who lost their lives will be honored through the works of police in the future.”
The IGP said a vested quarter has tried to instigate violence in the CHT by spreading rumours, taking the opportunity of misunderstanding between the hill tribes and Bangali settlers.
The IGP also assured, “We will take all necessary measures to ensure the festive mood for celebrating the puja joyfully and peacefully.”
He mentioned, “So far, we have recovered around 75 percent of looted weapons [238 weapons] in joint operations.”
Mentioning that police do not have direct involvement in cases, the IGP said, “Not only journalists but also police members were sued in cases. Compared to journalists, a significantly higher number of police officers have been named as accused. Border Guard Bangladesh, deputy commissioners, and divisional commissioners have also been sued in the cases.”
“Those who file the cases are part of our society. The cases would have been stronger and easy to investigate if the true culprits or criminals were mentioned in the FIRs. We have instructed police to verify and scrutinise complaints before recording them at the stations. We have formed separate investigation committees. We are collecting, scrutinising, and analysing case data,” the IGP added.