16,840 murders in four and a half years
Staff Correspondent
A total of 16,840 people have been murdered during the BNP-led alliance government's rule, putting the figure to over 10 people daily on an average, State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar told the House yesterday. Replying to a question of Jatiya Party lawmaker GM Quader, Babar placed a written list before the House disclosing the district and police unit-wise figure from October 10, 2001 to May 31, 2006. The state minister did not specify the nature of murders while records available with the Odhikar, a non-government organisation, said over 400 political killings, on an average, have occurred each year during the present government's period. The alliance government has initiated various steps to improve law and order situation, the state minister told the House. Chittagong district topped the list with 599 killings, while 566 were killed in Narayanganj, 499 in Mymensing and 465 in Dhaka district. There was no scope to raise any supplementary questions against the question as the question-answers were tabled as per the decision taken by the Business Advisory Committee. The home ministry statistics provided in parliament are almost accurate, former inspector general of police (IGP) Mohammad Nurul Huda said. "It is true that there is doubt in the public mind about the figure produced by police administration. But almost all of the murder cases are recorded with the police stations across the country. Possibility of suppressing any incident of murder is very little," Nurul Huda told The Daily Star yesterday. Replying to another query, the state minister said about Tk 340 crore has been spent to purchase arms, ammunition and vehicles for the police and Rab during the rule of the alliance government. The list placed before the House said the home ministry has purchased 1,04,363 different types of arms, 66,88,600 bullets, 67,000 tear gas shells, 2,000 gas grenades and different types of vehicles including 12 armoured cars. Replying to a query of Jatiya Party lawmaker Hafizuddin Ahmed, Babar said from October 10, 2001 to May 31, 2006 the government issued 1,274 firearms licences. Responding to another query, the state minister informed the House that 25 policemen were killed and 33 injured in Khulna division during the present government's time.
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