New IGP, DMP commissioner appointed

In the second biggest police shakeup since the fall of the Awami League government three months ago, the government has appointed Baharul Alam as the new Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Sheikh Sazzad Ali has been appointed as the new Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Both Alam and Sajjad, retired officers from the 1984 batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service (police) cadre, will serve for the next two years.

The Ministry of Home Affairs informed it through separate circulars on Wednesday (November 20) afternoon.

Later, local government adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain also made the disclosure while speaking at a briefing at the Foreign Service Academy on Wednesday evening.

Outgoing inspector general of police Md Mainul Islam and the outgoing DMP commissioner Mainul Hassan have both been attached with the Police Headquarters.

Baharul Alam went to retirement from the police in 2020. He served as the head of the Special Branch (SB) of the police.

From 2009 to 2013, he worked as a police liaison officer in the peacekeeping division of the United Nations headquarters. In 2015, he served as senior police advisor to the UN peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.

Before this, Baharul Alam served in Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. He was deprived of promotion for twice before going to retirement in 2020.

Almost all top officials of the police were removed after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August. Abdullah Al Mamun, who was the IGP before the fall of Hasina is now incarcerated. Most of the officers of additional IGP rank were sent into retirement.