Najia Afroz Neeva

Bangladesh Police has remarkably been bringing paradigm shift in people friendly policing across our beloved motherland. Basically this new pattern of policing has started with the promise of the birth centenary of the father of the Nation, ‘Mujib Borsher Ongikar, Police hobe Jonotar’. The essence of this promise has significantly become candid in these days of pandemic under the new police leadership of Dr. Benazir Ahmed, BPM (Bar). This piece of writing, meanwhile, intends to depict the diversified and international personality traits of Dr. Benazir Ahmed, Inspector General of Bangladesh Police and this writing also correlate the new hopes for policing with his dynamism, brilliance, smartness and professionalism. Dr. Benazir Ahmed has accomplished multidimensional portfolios combining with pure professional standards, cherished academic track records and global exposure of policing leadership.

Before assigned as Inspector General of Bangladesh Police, Dr. Benazir Ahmed has profoundly maneuvered newest and innovative approaches in his professional journey of policing leadership. For example, as Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner, he proved prowess in leadership in particular to countering the fifth May mayhem. In Policing professional discourse, that leadership technique has already taken place as one of the best practice example for many policing insights and innovation. Today’s DMP is so vibrant, so large and so capacitated due to his transformational initiatives. It is he who reformed DMP from institutional sclerosis to sophistication. Leading from front in any situation remains his unique way of doing things. As the chief of Rapid Action Battalion, he directly led his forces to free the flora and fauna of largest mangrove from all kinds of thieves and thugs.

This professional horizon, however, is not limited with geographic and demographic boundaries of Bangladesh. Upholding Bangladesh in global platforms from Policing perspectives, Dr. Benazir Ahmed has significantly showed excellent standards in many respects. From Asia, he was the only member, along with other five members of the world under the leadership of former Minister for International Development of Norway Hilde F. Johnson for reviewing functions, structures and capacity of the UN Police Division. He was picked by the then UN Secretary General for this global task due to his international professional integrity, competencies, values and diversity. Moreover, he worked as Chief of Mission Management and Support Section in Police Division in NYHQ. Nevertheless, he also represented Bangladesh as Contingent Commander in Bosnia and Kosovo under the United Nations peacekeeping flagship.

In addition with leadership role in home and abroad, his academic all pervading endeavour inspires many professional civil service officers. Being a sanguine scholar, he never give-up learning and re-learning new things even in his busiest days. Graduating from Dhaka University English Department, his unstoppable academic achievement encompasses LLB, MBA and Doctorate from Business Faculty of Dhaka University, earned as the latest laurel. This smartly spoken personality even manages his time to disseminate keen knowledge and innovative information in many academic and policy institutions to motivate and to inspire the young souls for a crime free better Bangladesh.

Combining these beauties and diversities in his long professional journey, he always upholds the philosophical spirit and essence of the Father of The Nation Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in very footsteps he went through and activities he involved with. The Honorable Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina has profoundly sanguine and smartest in choosing the policy people and bureaucrats to lead different departments of the State. Here again, picking Dr. Benazir Ahmed as the premier for policing is another proven decision. He brilliantly coordinated philosophy and professionalism in all major trajectories and triumphs. There are so many instances in policing and social development discourse. He is not a typical one rather a professional of ‘out of the box’ approach. This approach will integrate development policing pattern with visionary goals and objectives of development agenda, i.e, Vision 2021, SDGs, Digitization, Best Practices, Governance Innovation, Annual Performance Agreements, National Integrity Strategies, Diversity and Inclusiveness and Delta Plan 2100.

Here is the new hope. Within this short span of incumbency, Dr. Benazir Ahmed has already ignited his leadership prowess in many perspectives, in particular to address pandemic plethora. In line with the legal policing code, he has been leading policing professionalism to humanitarian forefront as per the code of human rights and humanitarian laws and customs. The immersion of professional policing as prescribed by Police Act and humanitarian policing as prescribed by human rights and humanitarian codes has been taking place here in this pandemic in our motherland due to his iconoclastic leadership skill and ethics. In some talk in social media platforms, Former Minister and Cultural Personality Asaduzzaman Noor, former Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Dr. AAMS Arefin Siddique, renowned Academician Syed Manzoorul Islam, Dr. Fakrul Alam, Former Advisor to honorable Prime minister and Editor of The daily Observer Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and some other bright souls of this soil correlates this leadership style and immersion of proactive policing with the liberation war. Renowned writer and Editor of Daily Kaler Kontho Imdadul Haque Milon outspokenly mentions ‘ …when the honest, courageous, smartest and brilliant officer like Dr. Benazir Ahmed lead the Police, be sure this police will serve the best comparing with any other time and will be global’.

The newest hope is also within. Bangladesh Police is shifting to towards this new hope. The paradigm shift is taking place. This paradigm shift will lead our Police to global spectrum under his iconic leadership. As per the concept of honorable Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, the concept of sustainable development depends on sustainable peace and sustainable peace depends on sustainable security. Helm in his hand, sustainable security will be ensured and consequently the ultimate beneficiary will be the valued citizen of the country through government ongoing different short-long-medium term development initiatives.

In a nutshell, the way he brought changes in DMP, the way he reformed DMP robust, the way he popularized the previous wings and institutions under proactive visionary leadership, this time as the Chief of Bangladesh Police, the hope is multiplied among the minds of creative citizens and police officers. Due to the combination of Dr. Benazir Ahmed, BPM (BAR)’s cherished professional track record, the excellent academic endowment and the diversified international exposure and positions, the hope is reborn within and let the hope spread all around us.

The writer is a freelance Journalist.