Interim govt in B’desh extends military’s magistracy power

Dhaka, March 13: Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus on Thursday extended the magistracy power of the military forces for 60 more days for the third time amid a nationwide law and order situation.
“Commissioned officers holding the rank of captain and above in the Bangladesh Armed Forces have been granted special executive magistrate powers across the country,” a Public Administration Ministry statement said here.
According to the statement, navy and air force officers too would hold the authority of executive magistracy while performing duties in aid of civil administration, including the military and navy officers serving on deputation in paramilitary Bangladesh Coast Guard and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
The renewal of the government order came as a nationwide operation called Operation Devil Hunt is underway as the country vandalism afresh since February 5.
Protestors that day first demolished the 32 Dhanmondi residence of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman using excavators coinciding with a scheduled virtual speech by his daughter and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina from India, where she fled last year after the students’ massive protest that ousted her Awami League government.
The protesters subsequently attacked or set on fire the houses and business establishments of Awami League leaders and activists throughout the country.
They were confronted while attacking a fugitive former minister’s village home in suburban Gazipur on the outskirts of the capital.
The armed forces were first granted magistracy power on September 17, 2024, a little over a month after the fall of Hasina’s Awami League regime in a student-led mass protests when police were in a dilapidated state as the main law enforcement agency.
A large number of policemen were lynched or critically wounded and police stations were attacked by protestors for their role in protecting the ousted regime while the government said the police was gradually regaining its morale with a massive restructuring exercise.
In line with the authority, the armed forces’ officers could arrest or issue orders to arrest any crime suspect.
But army chief General Waker Uz Zaman last month said the military forces were eager to return to their barracks as soon as possible saying army troops were not trained for policing.
Zaman also said that he ordered troops to use minimal force in discharging policing duties as part of joint forces and stressed the need for reorganisation of police to take their original responsibilities in the quickest possible time. (PTI)