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Khulna police 'snooping' on polls officials

'Accidentally' sends email, reveals looking into political leanings of election officials

Star Report
A list of 74 probable polling officials along with their "political leanings" has been "accidentally” emailed by police to local reporters in Khulna.
According to the document sent on September 18 by Harintana Police Station along with a routine press release, only 11 of the 74 teachers are marked as BNP or Jamaat leaning and one as non-partisan while the rest are Awami League leaning.
The list further confirms that police have been collecting a host of personal information, including political leanings, about probable polling officials.
The Daily Star talked to four teachers tagged as BNP or Jamaat supporters in Khulna. All of them said they were dismayed, embarrassed and that their images had been tarnished by the act. They stressed that they were not involved with politics.
Headmaster of Rayermahal Hamidnagar Haji Mohsin Government Primary School, Mollah Tajuddin was marked as BNP leaning.
"I have been working as a teacher for the last 25 years, but have never faced any question like this. I am a government servant and I have never been involved in politics," he said.
The press release police intended to send to reporters was about the arrest of a suspected drug dealer with 115 bottles of Phensedyl.
The first page of the document contained the press release while the second and third pages contained a table containing the names, designations, workplaces, mobile phone numbers, and political leanings.
Names of assistant professors, lecturers, headmasters, senior assistant teachers, and assistant teachers of a college, a high school, and two pri-
mary schools appeared on the list.
According to the emailed document, the officer-in-charge of Harintana Police Station had sent the list of probable presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers to the special superintendent of police of special branch of Khulna Metropolitan Police.
"With due respect and for your kind information, the names of the presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers have been given below in the chart," the document
quoted the OC.
Contacted yesterday, Nasim Khan, then OC of the police station and now with the Detective Branch, said he could not recall whether any such press release was sent.
Ashraful Alam, who is the OC now, said it was a mistake made before he joined.
Bibhuti Bhushan Mondol, assistant professor of Shaheed Abul Kashem College, was tagged as a BNP supporter.
"The list has embarrassed me. My image is tarnished,” he told The Daily Star, adding that he had done many
researches on Bangabandhu.
Assistant professor of the college, Sarder Rafiqul Islam was marked "Now a BNP supporter, used to support Jamaat”. He said had no idea as to how the list was made.
He denied having any political leaning.
Panchanan Golder, who was mentioned a BNP supporter, also said similar things.
Lecturer of the college Ruhul Amin, who was flagged a Jamaat supporter, said, "I was a custodian of the Tabligh-Jamaat at Rajshahi University. This list
is not substantive, ” he said, adding that people involved with Tabligh hardly ever support Jamaat.
In the wake of reports ofpolice collecting information on probable polling officials, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda on Thursday at a special meeting with law enforcers instructed police not to do that.
“We did not instruct you to do this. Don't do this. This is embarrassing," he said.
Our Khulna correspondent contributed to this report.