Police want no more Ansars to help them
Despite acute manpower crisis, the police department has proposed sending back 2,311 Ansar members who are now working with police to their own department. This will make them jobless as the Ansars were recruited on "no service no payment" basis.
Besides, of the 2,311 Ansars, 494 special Ansars who were earlier the members of outlawed Purba Bangla Communist Party, active in the country's southwestern region, may restart their previous activities, sources concerned apprehend.
Pointing out the logical ground of the proposal, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad told The Daily Star that if police department takes forces from other departments, police posts would remain vacant. For doing any fault, policemen are blamed but not the Ansars, so police personnel themselves should do their duty, he added.
He said policemen also face some problems due to less courteous manner of some Ansars. So, the police department has sent the proposal to the home ministry.
The home ministry sources said some 32,031 police personnel would be recruited in phases within shortest possible time.
Director (Operation) Forqan Uddin Ahmed of Ansar said of the 2311 Ansars, 400 Ansars are working under the traffic wing of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), 494 special Ansars at different police stations in 34 districts, including DMP, 464 under government railway police (GRP) while the remaining others in 16 districts.
Over 15,352 Ansar members, including around 830 females, are serving under 38 battalions on regular basis. Of them, 6,000 Ansars have been deployed in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), 2,500 in southwestern region to tackle outlaw activities while the remaining Ansar men in other parts of the country, he said.
The 494 special Ansars were earlier the members of outlawed Purba Bangla Communist Party, active in Southwestern region of the country, Ansar Headquarters sources said.
Different quarters apprehend further deterioration of law and order in the southwestern region if the special Ansars who were imparted training on arms return to their previous activities in the region.
The then Awami League government declared amnesty to the outlaws in the southwestern part of the country from June 7 to July 27 in 1999 and 2,700 outlaws availed this opportunity after they surrendered their 2,100 firearms.
Of the outlaws, 795 were recruited in Ansar department as special Ansar members after providing them an arms training for 28 days at Shafipur Ansar and VDP Training Centre and deployed in 34 districts to aid police.
Forqan Uddin said recently several district police administrations have sent separate letters to district adjutants of Ansar for withdrawing the Ansar members from district police. In reply, the Ansar department has requested the home ministry for taking decision in this regard, he said.
Ansar sources said following the reply the police headquarters sent proposals twice--on July 27 and August 31--to the home ministry for withdrawing Ansar men from police. The ministry has extended time to December 31 so that the Ansars can stay with police forces till then.
Forqan Uddin said despite parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry on May 17 took a decision for deploying 400 more Ansars under DMP traffic police, the traffic department is yet to respond to the decision.
He said of the 795 special Ansars, 30 left their jobs during the first 28-day long training while 271 were sacked or left the job within two years of their joining.
Ansar sources said if the special Ansars are sacked from police department, they might return to their criminal activities reinforced with more training.
The special Ansars who once had link with criminal gangs may develop nexus with them again if they remain jobless, sources said and added that the government should rehabilitate them after their termination.
The sources apprehend that other Ansars who will lose jobs may get involved in criminal activities too for meeting their daily needs.
Comments