[WATCH] OC talks like AL man

Welcoming BNP and Jatiya Party defectors to the Awami League, the officer-in-charge of Hatibandha Police Station has said they did the right thing by joining the ruling party.

Abdul Matin was addressing a programme at which about 600 former BNP and JP activists formally joined the AL at Gaddimari union on Sunday.

Matin said, "I thank them cordially as they, despite delay, realised that they have no alternative other than joining the Awami League."

As gleaned from a video clip obtained by The Daily Star, he started his speech by praising Motahar Hossain MP, district AL president and former deputy minister, and his son Mahmudul Hasan Sohag, Hatibandha upazila unit AL general secretary.

On Monday evening, he addressed another programme where 500 more BNP and JP defectors joined the AL.

He delivered a similar speech there, too, thanking the defectors and highly praising Motahar and Sohag.

On condition of anonymity, a policeman of Hatibandha Police Station told this correspondent that OC Matin "has now become a pure AL man." Matin sometimes "identifies himself as a close relative of Motahar Hossain MP," he added.

Talking to this correspondent, Matin stressed he was a police officer and not a politician. Asked whether he, as a law enforcer, was entitled to make political speeches, he said his speech was aimed at maintaining law and order, and not at politics.

Contacted, TM Mozahidul Islam, superintendent of Police in Lalmonirhat, declined to comment on the matter.