Army ready to hold free, fair elections if instructions come true

The army has not yet been officially informed about the elections. The army is ready to hold free and fair elections if instructions come true from the Election Commission (EC), said Colonel Shafiqul Islam, Colonel Staff of the Military Operations Directorate of the Army Headquarters. He said this at a press conference held at the army headquarters in Banani on Thursday (July 3) afternoon. The press conference was organized to highlight the army’s activities in maintaining law and order in the past few weeks.

At the press conference, Colonel Shafiqul Islam said that the army is working to recover illegal weapons spread across the country ahead of the elections. 80 percent of the looted weapons have already been recovered. He said that in the last two weeks, the army has recovered 26 illegal weapons and 100 rounds of ammunition and arrested 45 drug dealers. In addition, since August 5, more than 400 teenage gang members have been arrested, including 56 last month, and operations have been conducted to maintain peace in the hills.

Colonel Shafiqul said that 80 percent of the weapons have been recovered since August 5. In the last two weeks alone, 23 terrorists have been arrested in addition to 13 firearms recovered from Chittagong. The law and order situation is now much better than before. The army is and will remain vocal against any untoward incident. In addition, regarding the army personnel involved in the disappearances, Colonel Shafiqul Islam said that legal action will be taken if the investigation proves them guilty. He called the International Crisis Group’s allegations that the Bangladesh Army is training an armed group of Rohingyas baseless.