Law and order not at risk ahead of election: Home Adviser

Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (ret.) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has claimed that there is no risk of deteriorating law and order ahead of the election.

He said this during a briefing on Sunday, November 23, after a meeting of the core committee on law and order at the ministry’s conference room in the Secretariat.

Asked whether there was any concern about the law and order situation worsening before the election, he replied that there was no such concern. “As you can see, the law and order situation is gradually improving. But as the election approaches, the number of rallies and processions by different parties will increase. Meetings and gatherings will also increase.”

“When we assumed responsibility, the law and order situation was already in decline. It has improved over the past one and a half years,” he added.

In response to a question quoting a security analyst who said the country was going through a critical period in terms of internal security due to rising crime, the adviser said, “That is a security analyst’s comment. How he became a security analyst, I do not know. In our country, everyone is now an analyst. But I do not know their qualifications, and if I do not know them, I cannot comment.”

On a question about the recent earthquake, he said, “I am not aware of any country that can give advance warnings about earthquakes. Some countries reportedly have an app that can provide a warning ten seconds earlier. We are also considering whether such an app can be developed.”

“Some say that after one earthquake, there is fear of another within an hour or one and a half hours. The risk supposedly decreases after that period. But in our country, after one quake, another small one occurred. We are not experts, but we will speak to meteorologists.”

He also urged everyone to comply with building codes. “Buildings are being constructed after filling water bodies, which increases risk. There are hardly any open fields where people could gather during an earthquake. This must be addressed in future planning.”

Regarding the reported late-night detention of a journalist by the Detective Branch, he said, “Even among journalists, it has been said that what he did was not journalism but something else.”