& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Rab under the cosh

Unless the employment of the force in restricted to its main task, crime-busting and anti-terrorism, unless it is de-linked from political influence, unless it is made accountable for transgression of law, one is afraid that the call to do away with it will gain a very strong rationale.

Brig C.en Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Reid)
rT^HE image of the elite force has come under 1 severe battering, more so after the alleged involvement of one of its units in the Narayanganj killings. Regrettably, the very force that is supposed to provide security to the people has become the very cause of people's insecurity.
One could argue that it would be unfair to draw a broad brush of guilt on the entire force and vilify it because of the misdeeds of only a few of its members. While that may be so with any other element of the government, a special force such as Rab stands the risk of being besmirched for committing allegedly the very crimes it is supposed to keep people safe from.
It is a pity that a force which, we would like to believe, was established with honest intentions, and whose appearance on the streets in its seminal stages was welcomed with a sigh of relief by the common man who had had enough of petty crimes like mugging and the local mafias indulging in extortion and rent seeking, have come to be looked upon with trepidation.
Rab has some commendable achievements in the ten years of its existence. If the international community commends the government for effectively tackling the religious terrorists in the country the credit must largely go to Rab for successfully breaking the backbone of these groups. But, regrettably, there is the other side of the picture too which has completely tarnished the image of the force.
A very painful by-product of Rab's activity has been the forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. And many of its actions related to crime busting have been made controversial by its disregard for legal procedures. No civilised society can tolerate a situation where a law enforcing agency becomes the judge, jury and executioner. This view is no longer confined to the realm of people's perception but is a fact.
One doubts whether such illegal activities could have been carried out without the acquiescence of the power that be. And this despicable practice had started with its inception and has continued, perhaps with even greater intensity. The AL, which while in opposition had been very critical of Rab's activities, and had committed before the 2008 elections to ensure a stop to extrajudicial killing, has not delivered on its commitment.
While one cannot attribute all the disappearances and killings to the work of Rab, for the many high profile disappearances and encounter killings the finger has always been pointed towards it. But it had done nothing to disprove the allegations by arresting the culprits or unearthing the facts of any of those cases. This has only reinforced the general view that the force has been complicit in many of these crimes.
One was given to understand at the beginning that Rab would be a special force with the capability to act as a rapid reaction group in anti-terror operations or a hostage situation. On that count one did not find anything wrong with inducting officers from the military to partially man the force. As it turned out, Rab has been used as a police force but with more resources than the police. Such a situation was bound to create a condition where Rab would step into the territory of the police without very well defined TOR. And it is no wonder that one hears from time to time of tussle between the police and Rab. The force has been invested with unlimited powers that have caused it to become larger than itself. For such a force, unlimited powers with no accountability can be a dangerous mix. Narayanganj has demonstrated the severity of it.
What deflected Rab from its primary task of keeping law and order is its use against the political opponents. Not only that, given the allegations made by the father-in-law of Nurul Islam, it seems that some of them also acted as hired goons of the criminals and influential people belonging to the ruling party.
While much of the credit goes to the military officers for the achievements of the elite force, the secondment of military officers to the force has not been without its unfortunate but inevitable consequences. The worst sufferer has been the army, which is represented in proportionately greater numbers than the other two services. The nature of the job involves chasing criminals, dealing with crimes and other vices, something a soldier is neither expected, nor trained, to do. The
predictable has happened. And one fears that even many of those officers with a strong moral fibre, and they are the majority, that have not become involved in crimes and illegal activities, will hardly be fit for a long time for proper soldiering.
When the Fluman Rights Watch termed the force as the "government's death squad" it would have done the government a good deal of good had it taken those comments seriously and inquired into why such a perception existed in the minds of the rights groups. What is it that prevented the government from going into the allegations brought against the force?
It cannot bring comfort to the government when there is call from international human rights watchdogs for disbanding the elite force for its alleged involvement in rights violation. Some sections of the civil society in the country have added their voice to it. And unless the employment of the force in restricted to its main task, crime-busting and anti-terrorism, unless it is de-linked from political influence, unless it is made accountable for transgression of law, one is afraid that the call to do away with it will gain a very strong rationale.
The writer is Editor, Op-ed and Defence & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.