Bangladesh could limit the role of the military in politics by taking major steps to overhaul its “dysfunctional policing system,” which facilitates corruption and human rights abuses, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said.
The Brussels-based group, in its report Bangladesh: Getting Police Reform on Track, examined the state of Bangladesh’s police and the shortcomings of the current reform process led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
It concluded the force, which lacks sufficient ethical and professional standards and often flouts the law it is supposed to uphold, is overstretched, underpaid and unable to cope with increasing demands of a modern democratic society.
“Donor efforts to improve police functioning are having only a marginal impact, the ICG report said. “With an elected government in place again, there are new opportunities to ramp up reform.”
Allegations of corruption and abuses by police are widespread in the country of 150 million people, and feature prominently in the local media. But the government and top police officials deny any wrongdoing.
“The police themselves recognize that they are not up to job and are urging the government to commit to a deeper reform process”, the report quoted Michael Shaikh, an ICG senior analyst, as saying.
“If the government does not listen, the army could step into fill the security gap as it has in the past, causing the democratic transition to falter,” he said.
Army generals ruled the South Asian nation in uniform or under civilian guise for 15 years until the end of 1990. The army continues to keep a close watch on political matters.
“Underscoring the urgency of root and branch reform was the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny in February, which left over 75 dead and prompted fears of another army coup,” the report said.
“Mostly due to the government’s lack of political will, the UNDP Police Reform Program does not address the most dire structural problems that enable abuse, corruption, vigilantism and extremism,” it said.
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