Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (Retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has said that they have no plan to removed 50 per cent of Bangladesh Army personnel, who deployed to maintain law and order, from the field.
He made the remark on Sunday afternoon while speaking to journalists after a meeting of the Core Committee on Law and Order at the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Secretariat.
"The information being circulated about the withdrawal of half of the army personnel from field duties is merely a rumour. No such decision has been made," said the Home Adviser.
When asked about security concerns centring the November 13 Dhaka lockdown programme announced by the banned Awami League, the adviser said, "There is no cause for concern."
On November 5, several media outlets reported that half of the deployed army members would be temporarily withdrawn for rest and election-time training. In response to that report, Brigadier General Dewan Mohammad Manzur Hossain, Director of Military Operations, told a press briefing at the Army Headquarters that a letter regarding the matter had been received and that necessary steps would be taken considering the law and order situation.
The army official also noted that the Bangladesh Army has been assisting the civil administration in maintaining law and order for the past 15 months, alongside conducting operations to recover stolen arms and ammunition and arrest identified criminals.
