I'm not sure what role the military is playing in all this. They’re trying on the ground, yet why the police couldn't be made more active remains unclear... The police could have been much more effectively mobilised if students had been more active on the streets and strategically engaged. After 5 August, it was actually the students who reactivated many police stations. But efforts like new police recruitment and other measures couldn’t be carried out. Still, there has been significant improvement in law and order.
However, there is still doubt about whether this law enforcement structure or policing system can manage a situation like a national election.
We don’t agree with the way the term mob is being used to belittle people. Those being called a mob are actually agitated citizens. Various actors have manipulated or redirected them for personal or group agendas due to the absence of clear programmes and strong leadership. That’s also a limitation on our part. The government too failed to present any programme to channel the public in a constructive direction. The government also lacked a programme capable of guiding the people in a constructive direction.
People wanted a programme. They wanted to contribute to nation-building. But that wasn’t made possible. Instead, we saw old debates and factional politics dividing different parts of the uprising along ideological lines. Now those people are being labeled as a 'mob'.
In my view, what is being referred to as a 'mob' is not just a matter of policing or law and order. This will remain in Bangladesh for many more years — because these people are the student masses who took part in the uprising.