‘Mess tenants should be monitored, not feared’

But the recent wave of police crackdown in the wake of the Gulshan terror attack has left mess owners afraid and unsure about their tenants. The prevailing panicked situation is toxic for society and might result in unrest in the future, human rights activists and law enforcers warn. Following the Gulshan attack, the police have carried out at least 60 block raids in Dhaka city, in which they arrested 43 Jamaat-Shibir activists. There have also been arrests of several home owners, including a pro-VC of North South University, who failed to provide police with the necessary information on their tenants – who later turned out to be militant suspects. These arrests have prompted many to stop renting out their homes as bachelors’ messes. The Dhaka Tribune spoke to a home owner in Shukrabad, near where police arrested nine mess tenants on Thursday, who said she previously rented out her house as a mess but changed her mind after the Kallyanpur incident. “I might get more money from a mess. But the truth is that I do not want any problem.” So, she has already asked all her mess tenants to vacate the building. Asked why she was not complying with police orders and providing the DMP with tenant information, the home owner – who requested anonymity – said there was no way she could be sure that the information provided by her mess tenants would be authentic. However, Mirpur police station Officer-in-Charge Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that if any owner was concerned about the authenticity of any information, they should collect the necessary documents from the tenants before they moved in, so that police would get enough time to verify those. An official from DMP’s counter-terrorism unit said any doubts about the identity of tenants can be removed by collecting copies of their national ID cards or passports, character certificates from public representatives, and official or educational institution ID cards. Home owners could also collect the number of the tenants’ parents and personally speak to them over the phone to verify identities, he suggested. It was not possible to create fake documents for all of these IDs, he said. DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman also assured that no home owner who had timely provided tenant information was arrested during the recent block raids. According to Bangladesh Mess Organisation, there are 1.5 million mess tenants in Dhaka city alone. The organisation’s Secretary Ayatullah Akhter said mess members have been subjected to oppression and mismanagement for a long time. If house owners had been alert about security from the beginning and had monitored their tenants, then such mess-based criminal activities would not have been possible, he said. All tenants cannot be blamed for the crimes of a few, he said, adding that better monitoring would prevent future crimes. Reazul Hoque, the newly appointed chairman of National Human Right Commission, said the panic and fear among all is leading to damaging consequences. Unrest might take place if accommodations for students and bachelor jobholders cannot be created, he cautioned. If house owners monitored their tenants as they monitored their own children, those tenants would not get the chance to do something illegal, he added. Reazul said renting out houses should be a matter of awareness, not fear.