The movement demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina started from the demand for reforming the quota of university students and job aspirants. In July 2024, hundreds of unarmed citizens died and thousands of students were injured due to the government's violent role in suppressing the protests for three weeks. Within a month, the student protests turned into a mass uprising, Awami League's 15-year rule ended.
In the mass uprising in July, where the police forces across the country brutally tortured the students on the government's orders, at the same time, where they are accused of firing indiscriminately on the students, a police officer played a role in the media and social media by going against the trend and standing against his own force in pursuit of conscience. For which he received many threats but did not give up!
Mr. Ahmed, an American of Bangladeshi descent, a member of the Democratic Party, told about the police officer. Police Officer Farhad Kabir who got the job in the 33rd BCS (Police). In 2014, he started his career at the police headquarters after taking 3rd place in the academy training.
Mr. Ahmed said, as Farhad is a computer engineer, he was kept in charge of one position in the ICT unit of the police headquarters from the beginning of his career. In the last 10 years of service, the police officer has been kept in one position, which may be a rare occurrence in Bangladesh. However, he worked tirelessly and is still working for the country.
Police officer Farhad has diligently done the technical management of National Emergency Service 999, Online Police Clearance Certificate and 'Movement Pass' during Corona.
He has worked to bring police services to people's doorsteps through digital transformation. He was never posted in field policing by the dictatorial government as he was not immersed in the culture of lobbying, Mr. Ahmed claimed.
Mr. Ahmed said that in 2021, Farhad took the GMAT exam for higher studies in the United States, scoring 770 out of 800 (99%), one of the highest scores in the history of Bangladesh.
As a result, he got the opportunity to study full-time MBA from seven famous universities including MIT Sloan School of Management, New York Stern School of Business and University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, which are in the top 15 ranking of Financial Times and US News.
Ahmed said, 'I got to know Farhad, he later completed his MBA in 2023 from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business with the university's fully funded Dean's Scholarship.'
Meanwhile, after completing his studies, in October 2023, Farhad was irregularly posted to the Rangpur Metropolitan Police for the purpose of harassing him, he said.
Farhad personally wanted to prevent himself from doing any immoral act by disobeying the government instructions in the farce election of January 7, 2024, which took away the voting rights of the people of Bangladesh and killed the democracy, he added, as a result, this police officer quickly left Bangladesh for the United States without accepting the post. After completing his studies, he started working as a program manager in a Silicon Valley based IT organization as an optional practical training. Later, he decided not to return to work during that illegal Awami government.
Police officer Farhad Kabir has been playing an active role for the people of the country since January 5 and against the various injustices of the Awami League government. He wrote on his Facebook wall in favor of the students in the July student movement, especially from the day of the killing of Abu Sayed (July 16).
He said that during the movement, Farhad informed many other senators and congressmen and Human Rights Watch through a letter to protest against the genocide by illegally shutting down the Internet in Bangladesh.
In this regard, Farhad Kabir said, 'I have always been vocal against injustice, due to which I had to be under pressure from the associates of the outgoing government. However, I was and am steadfast in my duty.'
Police officer Farhad Kabir has already raised various arguments and proposals on how to make the police more transparent and modern in various online public discussions. He thinks that cybercrime will be more in the coming days.
The police have not been able to acquire the professional capacity to combat cybercrime as they have been busy suppressing dissent for the past 15 years. Returning to Bangladesh, he wants to play a role for the country in combating crime by digitizing police activities on a priority basis, especially cybercrime suppression and using artificial intelligence.
