Understanding our political dynamics
Some say that politics is deeply rooted in our psyche and as such engaging in organisational politics has made it very volatile and dysfunctional. Such volatility and dysfunction are strongly suspected to be the result of the deficiencies of the actors in the art of politics. Their non-deliverance has meant demonstration of arrogance by incumbents to somehow stay in power or fearsome manipulation on the part of opposition to grab power. In such a scenario, the country is kept on the tenterhooks and the process carries within itself multi-dimensional enforcement and security implications.

There is no denying that Bangladesh needs to be presided over by a capable, effective ruling group that can tackle aggressive and destructive forces and provide adequate protection to its citizen. Success of a political government is significantly measured by the absence of violence and the presence of confidence of the people in addition to the element of adaptability to new conditions and challenges. In such a background, the scale of our political instability may unfortunately turn out to be the prelude to political decay.

Many factors militate against our quest for a stable political order. The military or civilianised military rule of the not-too-distant past has been a serious damper and a deficit. A political culture conducive to stability is yet to emerge and unfortunately the facilitating factor of level-headed leadership is in short supply. Consequently, we have to witness a lack of social cohesion and the crippling state incapacity that is rooted in internal threats. Such deficits pose serious threat to the core values of our independence and sovereignty. The phenomenon of our domestic instability has been elevated to the rank of security threats.

From the foregoing an apparently disappointing impression may form that Bangladesh is a politically unstable and weak state. Some may even say that we may have held democratic elections but we do not honour the rule of law and the rights of the citizens.

Police and the confrontational scenario
The role of the police in Bangladesh has to be viewed in the perspective of the historical process, the changes in the social situation, the values and aspirations of a developing society. The situation in the post-Independence era and the specific law and order requirements arising out of continuing conflicts have, unfortunately, not permitted the full development of new traditions and attitudes. While on the one hand, the police are expected to get closer to the people, they are repeatedly called upon, on the other, in their role as the agents of authority, to deal with violent agitations and disturbances of a wide variety. Challenges to authority are inherent in a plural society. These are accentuated in a democratic polity and lead to agitations and disturbances. Additionally, there is the problem of the right use of authority by parties which are in power.

There have been instances where governments have been accused of using the police machinery for political ends. There are also instances of individual politicians interfering with the administration and the work of the police. As may be expected in a society in transition, the norms which should govern the relationship between the party in power, the individual politician and the police have still to be developed.

The constitutional goals and the guarantees of freedom define the political frame-work within which the administrative authority and the law and order agency must function and also point to the directions of future national progress. The police, as one of the administrative agencies, have a special responsibility not only to ensure the widest possible degree of individual liberty and security in terms of the constitutional guarantees but also to deal with socially disruptive forces.

In the political sphere, the enunciation of national goals has resulted in rising expectations and aspirations among the masses. Any gap between the promise of constitutional ideals and the reality leads to strains and tensions which are mobilised for the "politics of agitation". There is no doubt that while these processes lead to the politicisation of the masses and the development among them of a greater awareness of their rights and of the methods of their achievement, they also intensify the ferment and lead to confrontations with authority. Those entrusted with the maintenance of stability in society thus often come into conflict with the forces generated by the political system which they are intended not only to serve but also to preserve. This makes the policeman's task both delicate and complex.

The declaration of social equality as a goal has resulted in the intensification of social tensions and violence arising from attempts by traditionally powerful groups to prevent the under-privileged from gaining constitutionally guaranteed equality and from the anxiety of the latter to achieve this equality in a free Bangladesh. Since the police have an accepted role to play in the establishment of conditions favourable for social growth and development, it becomes necessary for them to promote a feeling of confidence and security.

The police have admittedly a difficult role, and a role that they are often called upon to perform in the most provocative and trying circumstances. The police have always had to handle problems of law and order. What is new in the situation today is that many of the agitations have a claim to social legitimacy because they are undertaken in furtherance of goals which are recognised by the constitution. The police, therefore, are being cast in an anti-people role. Even so the police have to maintain law and order and support the constitutional processes in society. Both in a negative as well as a positive sense the police have the obligation to defend and promote the normal legal and constitutional processes in the country. It is only through these that the desired social objectives can be achieved in a democratic society.

Society is no longer a simple, non-complex, aggregate of individuals living in isolation. It is a living, growing, expanding, collection of people, bound together and inter-dependent on each other, and yet sometimes pitted against each other in a manner which could hardly have been conceived by the framers of Penal Code.

The norms that should govern the relationship of the party in power, the individual politician and the police have still to be developed. The development of these norms is connected with the larger question of accountability. It is clear that among the questions which arise are the accountability of the police to the law and the State, democratic control of the police and ministerial responsibility, organisational and functional independence of the police, the statutory duties of the police under the law and executive instructions which interfere with police functioning.

Bangladeshi society remaining afflicted with divisive tendencies is unable to come up with a consensus on major national issues. Some such issues relate to our identity. There are contrary views on these issues. Most political discourses and deliberations, unfortunately, are not characterised by logic but by politicised emotion and the principal differences have given rise to the tragic social divide. Social cohesion would be impossible in these conditions. Enforcement becomes a nightmare in such an atmosphere of opposing push and pulls. Sheer good luck and sudden good sense may prevent us from plunging into anarchy.

Muhammad Nurul Huda is a former Secretary and IGP.