The stunning and swift political change in Bangladesh effected by the July-August mass upheaval has forced the country’s brutal and much-feared Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) to change course, introspect and reform itself.
The DGFI top brass today promised that it will now reorient itself to the changed political circumstances and not resort to any strong-arm, Gestapo-like tactics against any person. This was articulated by DGFI’s new Director General Major General Mohammad Faizur Rahman before a select group of media persons at the agency’s Dhaka Cantonment headquarters.
Speaking to the hand-picked journalists drawn from TV news channels and newspapers, Maj Gen Rahman said that it was time for the DGFI to turn over a new leaf and “become a professional intelligence agency” that would adhere to the rule of law and undertake all necessary reforms.
This was the DGFI’s first public acknowledgment of the strong-arm and unconstitutional means that its officers used when the Sheikh Hasina regime was in power. While Maj Gen Rahman’s admission of wrong-doing was more in the nature of putting the blame on the erstwhile Awami League regime, his attempt to project a “new image” was part of a strategic decision to lessen public approbation.
While Maj Gen Rahman sought to extend a “hand of peace and reconciliation”, he urged the journalists not to report on the proceedings, including his extempore speech. “It was hard to believe and watch the new chief take such a reconciliatory position,” an officer said on condition of anonymity.
Before being appointed as the new DGFI chief, Maj Gen Rahman served as the Defence Services Command and Staff College Commandant. He replaced Maj General Hamidul Haque who was moved to the insignificant position of Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Managing Director.
Knowledgeable Bangladeshi military sources revealed that the DGFI had “toned” down and taken to a “self-restraining course” last year when senior officials in key positions “realised” that the Sheikh Hasina regime had “over-extended” itself in its pursuit of absolute and brute power.
Maj Gen Rahman said that the refurbished DGFI will now no longer take recourse to underhand measures in relation to the media. In other words, Maj Gen Rahman said that “henceforth no DGFI officer will pull rank to call up media houses and dictate which news story to carry or not”.
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Over the last 15 years, the DGFI would often work in tandem with Indian security agencies on a host of “common issues” such as insurgency, terrorism and so-called “anti-state activities” that supposedly had national security implications.
While Maj Rahman did not explicitly state what relations the DGFI under him would maintain with security agencies of neighbouring countries, other sources indicated that a “reassessment” of such ties would be made in the weeks and months to come.
