No Concern about Tarique Rahman's Safety in Bangladesh : Home Affairs Advisor

The government is ready to provide “special” security to those who need it, Home Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has said regarding Tarique Rahman’s homecoming.

His comment came following a core committee meeting at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

Reporters asked him about the BNP acting chairman’s security upon his return to Bangladesh.

Noting that the core committee did not discuss the issue, he said: “There’s no security threat for anyone in Bangladesh. On security issues, we’re ready for everyone. The Ministry of Home Affairs is ready for everyone. Especially those who need something special, we’re ready for it.”

Regarding the election, he said: "There was a discussion about how many risky polling stations exist and how many are not risky. We need to plan the deployment accordingly and we discussed it."

The core committee meeting discussed the progress of body camera purchasing and the advisor said cameras were being bought. However, he did not mention the number of cameras.

Jahangir said the identification of “risky constituencies” is difficult because they change according to the situation. When asked how so-called “risky constituencies” are determined, he said: “We determine them based on the news you provide.”

Regarding the discussion on the border issues at the meeting, he said: "Issues were discussed to ensure that nothing can enter through the border illegally."

He said that the core committee meeting discussed how it could make sure that no one could promote anything provocative or instigating.

In response to a question about phone tapping through various means, he said: “Those organisations authorised can tap the phone but not those who are unauthorised.”

The advisor was asked why there was a 15-month delay in the government declaring Khaleda Zia as a very very important person.

“I can’t say anything about it. In this case, those who are authorised to issue the status, can talk about it.”