Police to strongly demand appointment at Bangladeshi foreign missions

The police will place a strong demand before Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, seeking postings at Bangladeshi embassies and high commissions across the globe - especially in countries where expatriates are working.

Several senior police officials told The Business Standard that many Bangladeshi expatriates and workers have to return home because of various complications, and police officers need to be posted at foreign missions to help prevent such issues.

"We will place our reasonable demands before the prime minister, like we do every year during Police Week," said Assistant Inspector General of Police (Media) Sohel Rana.

Police Week 2020 will kick off from Sunday with the slogan – "Mujib Borsher Ongikar, Police Hobe Jonotar," roughly translated, as "A people-oriented police is the promise of Mujib Year."

The Bangladesh Police will demand positions at Bangladeshi foreign missions to handle various issues faced by expatriates, such as doing police verifications and checking information about criminals who escaped Bangladesh.

The Police will place the demand before the prime minister at a scheduled event during Police Week, seeking her permission to appoint officials - holding the rank of superintendent of police - for those positions.

Police sources said that the Bangladesh government has set up offices offering passport-related services for expatriates in 51 countries. Police verification and clearance are essential for such services. Special branch of police is presently providing this support in Bangladesh.

As per regulations, the expatriates' passport documents are sent through Bangladesh embassies to the foreign ministry for verification. The ministry then sends the documents to the home ministry, and from there they go to the Special Branch.

The passport documents are returned to the relevant embassy after the verification process is complete through the reverse procedure. The whole verification process is very time consuming and a cause of undue suffering for expatriates.

If police officers are posted at Bangladeshi foreign missions, such issues will get resolved smoothly, said police sources.

A senior police official told The Business Standard, "Police officers need to be appointed at Bangladeshi embassies for many reasons, such as repatriation of criminals on the run from the law, curbing harassment of workers by foreign police, preventing transnational crime, sharing intelligence, and coordinating between foreign and domestic law enforcers.

"A proposal was placed before the government in this regard a few years ago. The government directed concerned authorities to implement the proposal. But instead of police officials, administration cadres are presently working at Bangladeshi foreign missions."

The senior official further said that despite a lack of support of from the foreign ministry on this issue, the police would again raise the demand before the prime minister during Police Week.

Meanwhile, sources from the police welfare department said that police would raise several demands during the programme. Some previously placed demands are still unfulfilled, so police will place some earlier demands again, along with new ones.

According to police headquarters, any police chief in a neighbouring country outranks the inspector general of police (IGP) in Bangladesh, and this issue becomes embarrassing when senior police officials attend international events on foreign soil.

So, the police will reiterate their demand seeking four-star general rank for the IGP, said sources.

The police will demand appointments in Bangladeshi foreign missions in 40 countries - USA, India, China, Canada, UK, France, Australia, Italy, Germany, Russia, Netherland, Sweden, Turkey, Kuwait, Thailand, Japan, Singapore,  South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Bahrain, Brunei, Myanmar, Nepal, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Africa, Greece, Spain, Mauritius, Libya, Morocco.