Pressure mounts on Bangladesh Home Affairs Advisor to resign

Dhaka, Feb 24 (IANS) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, the Home Affairs Advisor to the interim government in Bangladesh, on Monday played down the worsening law and order situation in the country, claiming that only few "minor incidents" have taken place and the security situation remains "satisfactory".

Chowdhury was reacting to the massive protest march taken out by the student organisations towards the Bangladesh Secretariat, demanding his resignation for failing to ensure public safety and rising incidents of sexual violence against women in the country.

"The Home Advisor cannot ensure our safety and the police led by him keeps mum. Women are insecure now. So, we demand Home Advisor to apologise to the nation and leave his chair," the local media quoted a student as saying.

The protesters demanded that Home Advisor should resign by Tuesday, failing which the movement will receive further momentum. They further held the Advisor accountable for failing to ensure safety to women in Bangladesh.

While the students were marching towards the Secretariat, a scuffle also broke out between them and the Dhaka police. Accusing the police of manhandling female protesters, one of the protestors said, "There is not a single female police officer in this force. Yet, here we are, a procession full of women. This is a women's movement. These male police officers have laid hands on us. We strongly condemn this."

The students also took out a protest march on Sunday at many prominent educational institutions in Dhaka, chanting slogans like, "Wake up government", "End the silence, punish the rapists", "Stop the violence, protect women" and "Hang the rapists!".

Several cases of sexual violence against women have been reported throughout Bangladesh in recent months. The Bangladesh Mahila Parishad on Sunday condemned the rising incidents of crime against women and questioned the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies in the country.