Police do not give political statements, they perform duties to protect law: IGP

Police do not make political statements anywhere, rather they are performing their duties to protect the law, said Inspector General of Bangladesh Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun on Tuesday.

The IGP made the remarks while responding to a question from reporters regarding some top police officials giving political statements ahead of the national elections.

He was talking to reporters after visiting the ailing officer-in-charge of Habiganj Police Station Ajay Chnadra Deb at National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital in the capital.

About BNP's allegation that some top police officials are giving political statements, Mamun said, "From my point of view I did not see any policeman giving political statements."

"We perform duties as per the law and it is our duty to deal with the challenges that come while performing duties to maintain law and order and police will do whatever is needed to ensure security of people," he said.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Sunday alleged that the partisan remarks of top police officials have exposed that the government is going to hold another lopsided national election.

"There was a meeting of high-level police officers on Saturday. An officer's statements in the meeting went viral on social media. Hearing his speech, I could not differentiate whether he was a police officer or Shahbag Awami League's publicity secretary," he said.

Turning down BNP's allegation that police showed some leaders and activists of BNP arrested with old and unused arms, the IGP said, "This allegation is false and baseless. Police took legal action against the BNP men after recovering arms from their possession during the drive."

 Asking about the arrest of the mother of a Bangladeshi expatriate in the US over his Facebook post, the IGP said, "I want to make it clear that based on intelligence information that  some people gathered at the house of a Nayeb-e-Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami in Khulna with a motive to deteriorate the law and order situation. Three persons including a woman were arrested but later we came to know that the son of the woman gave a post over Sayeedi on his Facebook page."

However, police also seized some digital devices, books and mobile phone sets from their possession, he said.