A parliamentary body yesterday asked the home ministry to form a special team of Rab and police to combat militancy and provide its members with special training for better performance.
The parliamentary standing committee on home ministry at a meeting also asked the ministry to strengthen the intelligence unit of police to detect militants.
It also discussed strengthening the activities of Swat, a newly formed commando force, to meet the growing threat of any unwanted incidents by criminal groups.
Members of the committee observed that the police are not getting proper training to face the changing trends of criminal activities, meeting sources say.
Some of the committee members said the activities of elite Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) must be enhanced to check law and order slide.
"The police forces need to be modernised to combat militancy," committee chief Maj Gen (retd) Abdus Salam told reporters after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
He also said 30,000 members will be recruited in police in next three years.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Sahara Khatun during the question-answer session in parliament informed the House about the government measures to combat militancy.
"The law-enforcement and intelligence agencies are working in a coordinated way to thwart militants' efforts to regroup," Sahara said.
She added the government has planned to bring the godfathers of outlawed militant outfit JMB to justice to root out militancy. Besides, process is underway to formulate a strategy paper to combat terrorism and militancy, she said.
In reply to a query of Awami League lawmaker Israfil Alam, the home minister said 680 people were killed in custody of the law-enforcement agencies from 2002 to February 2009. No move was made to form a judicial or parliamentary body to probe the deaths except executive investigation, which is also underway, she added.
Responding to a query of Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker AHM Hamidur Rahman, the minister said 3,129 arms licences were issued against 2,966 people and 163 institutions during the immediate past caretaker government.
In response to another query of AL lawmaker Amjad Hossain, Sahara said 156 people were killed and 77 people were held in connection with the killings since the present government assumed office on January 6.
On a query of AL lawmaker M Abdul Latif, Sahara informed the House about the government's plans to modernise the Coast Guard by 2020 with sufficient equipment and increase its personnel.
Replying another query of AL lawmaker Mahmudus Samad Chowdhury, the minister said Lt Col (retd) MA Rashed Chowdhury, convicted killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has recently applied to the US government for permanent citizenship.
On receiving information from NCB, Washington, the Bangladesh government has issued a red notice and informed the NCB about it.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in reply to AL lawmaker Shahiduzzaman Sarkar in a scripted answer said 6,116 Bangladeshis are now behind bars in different countries.
Of them, 1,514 are in Saudi Arabia, 2,292 in Malaysia, 260 in Pakistan, 174 in the UK, 158 in Qatar, 222 in Singapore, 330 in Kuwait and 162 are in the UAE.
The foreign minister said the government has taken different steps to bring them back.
28 JS BODIES RECONSTITUTED
The House yesterday reconstituted 28 parliamentary standing committees on different ministries incorporating names of BNP-led opposition lawmakers.
The House unanimously passed the proposal of Chief Whip Abdus Shahid incorporating names of the BNP-led main opposition lawmakers in the respective committees.
Earlier in this month, opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farrouque submitted names of its lawmakers for including in different parliamentary standing committees.
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