Extra security measures have been taken up across the country since yesterday evening as the International Crimes Tribunal 1 is set to pass its verdict today on Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami on charges of crimes committed against humanity during the War of Liberation.
Maximum security measures were taken up in the capital where the tribunal is set up and in some other districts known as Jamaat strongholds and saw massive violence during the verdicts on its some top leaders in war crimes cases in the past.
Director General of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) told the Dhaka Tribune by phone yesterday: “We have deployed BGB in the capital and some districts ahead of Nizami verdict.”
Ten platoons of BGB members were deployed in the capital alone and three to four platoons were sent to be deployed in the district level. They would remain standby and would swing into action as per government directives.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) Masudur Rahman said they would do everything on their part for the sake of security of all citizens.
The elite force RAB has also begun increasing their intelligence vigilance and patrolling across the county since Tuesday evening.
RAB’s Legal and Media wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan said they had asked their force to remain alert in the streets, especially in Dhaka, to prevent any act of violence.
Seeking anonymity, a high official at the police headquarters told the Dhaka Tribune that security had been tightened in some Jamaat-dominated districts – Feni, Satkhira, Lakshmipur, Satkania and Lohagara of Chittagong, Rajshahi, Bogra and Nilphamari – as well as in the capital.
Special security instructions were given to the police and other forces in the districts to remain alert during, before and after the pronouncements of the verdict on Nizami, he said.
To verify whether such instructions were given, the Dhaka Tribune contacted Feni Superintendent of Police (SP) Md Rezaul Haque.
Confirming about it, Feni SP Reza said BGB members were also deployed there.
Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmood Khandker said: “We have made our security plan this
time, taking in view the acts of violence having taken place centring the previous verdicts in war crimes cases.”
“Security measures will be taken up in the same way as were during the pronouncements of verdicts in other war crimes cases,” State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters yesterday.
