With the political front showing signs of volatility in the run-up to the national election, the government is readying a specialised unit of the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to aid the regular forces in tackling street violence.
In addition to the main duty of border management, the specialised unit called the Region Reserve Battalion (RRB) has been tasked with checking political violence and fundamentalism, and addressing some other issues, said sources from BGB and the home ministry.
The RRB, divided into four separate battalions and comprising around 3,000 personnel selected from various units of BGB, will assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order, as the police force has been busy dealing with political violence in recent times.
The combined law enforcement agency RAB – consisting of members from all agencies including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Ansar and BGB – has also been kept busy.
Until June this year, a staggering 1,978 BGB platoons have been deployed around the country at different times to assist police in maintaining law and order. In 2012, the number was only 78.
The spike in BGB deployment could be attributed to the recent rise in political violence around the country.
BGB Director General Major General Aziz Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune: “Controlling and checking political violence, militancy, insurgency, smuggling, trafficking, and illegal hoarding of essentials by unscrupulous businessmen are among tasks of the specialised unit.”
Major General Aziz said the process of forming the new battalions had started after the prime minister had inaugurated the four regional headquarters of BGB in Chittagong, Jessore, Rangpur and Sarail in January this year.
“One of the battalions has already started working under the Chittagong Regional Headquarters.
"It worked during the recent troubles in the Bangladesh-Myanmar border areas. The formation of the three remaining units is about to be completed soon,” the BGB boss said.
“The new force will work to control political violence and other crimes whenever and wherever necessary,” said Major General Aziz, but he declined to disclose further details due to strategic reasons.
Each of the RRB battalions will be led by a lieutenant colonel level officer of the army and will have separate 35-member intelligence cells.
Sources said the introduction of a specialised force had come to the forefront because the 152,000-strong police force – already occupied with the tast of controlling the recent spike in political violence – could hardly find time to check other crimes.
At least 12 policemen were killed and more than 400 injured in the last nine months in clashes with activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir, and other Islamist outfits.
BGB sources said the new units would be equipped with sophisticated and modern logistics and would be empowered to conduct operations independently whenever needed. The force could also be deployed as per demand from the civil administration.
Unlike police, who must be ordered by a magistrate to use firearms, the new BGB battalions will be able to use firearms without the permission of any other authority if the need arises.