The Election Commission has appointed Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) personnel across the country to handle possible arson attacks during the 10th parliamentary polls today.
It has asked the FSCD to keep their officials on high alert with necessary fire fighting tools like rescue ambulances, water tanks, water pumps etc.
As per the demand of EC, the fire service has deployed its manpower and 69 rescue ambulances under the custody of police stations across the country.
Seeking anonymity, a high official of the FSCD said arson attacks are currently the biggest threat to human lives and public and private properties of the country. The Election Commission has sought help of the FSCD to save the people from such attacks.
Statistics of the FSCD shows 857 vehicles were torched in the last one year. The vehicles include inter-district buses, minibuses, trucks, private cars, motor cycles, tractors and even vehicles of the fire service.
Among those, 354 were burnt within October to December last year while 204 were burnt only in the month of November. The incidents of arson attacks are continuing still now. In December, most of the incidents of arson attacks occurred during blockades, hartals and other programmes of the opposition alliance.
During the last two months, around 140 people succumbed to burn injuries in the arson incidents. Several hundred people including elderly and children fell victim to the violence.
Seeking anonymity, a number of top-brass officials of the FSCD said: “Usually during pre-election period, the election commission appoints police, special branch of police, detective branch of police, RAB and other law enforcement agencies to help maintain the law and order situation.”
“However, never before had they assigned the fire service on the occasion of national elections. Probably this is the first time in the history of Bangladesh the FSCD is going to get involved in the national elections,” they added.
They also said the FSCD officials and staff were worried as they had no firearms to protect themselves on field unlike members of other law enforcement agencies.
Fire Service and Civil Defence is a self-governed institution, however, this is the first time that they have been ordered to act as an aide to maintain security during the election.
“Though we are a service-oriented organisation, we are going to assist in providing safeguard during polls as per orders from the election commission,” said an official.
At present, the Fire Service and Civil Defence has 272 fire service stations across the country providing service in three categories.
When asked about involvement with the Election Commission, Muhammad Mahbub, operations director for Bangladesh’s Fire Service and Civil Defence, said: “We have received order from the upazila nirbahi officers, district commissioners and the Election Commission to provide ambulance and other fire extinguishing instruments.”
