There are accusations of prejudice and bias in the Ansar and village protection force. The members of Special Ansar and Hill Ansar have been working for 20 and 33 years respectively on a non- permanent basis.
As a result, there is a sense of disenchantment among them.
Despite a directive from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the issue has not been settled as yet.
Relevant people allege that the home ministry and Ansar headquarter are not working seriously on the matter.
In the nineties, when the oppression of extremists in the south-western part of the country became intolerable, the government promised general amnesty to them and offered rehabilitation.
At that time, 2126 extremists surrendered their weapons. Of them, 765 were rehabilitated and appointed as Special Ansars. Later, several members fled with 480 persons still working in different thanas.
The promise was to make them permanent which has not happened in the last 20 years. Meanwhile, 600 members of the hill Ansars have been working to ensure security of hill communities since 1986.
Their jobs have not been made permanent in 33 years and no one knows when the promises made to them will be fulfilled.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made a promise in 2016 to make the jobs permanent.
The president has also relaxed appointment rules to make the jobs of Special and Hill Ansars permanent, but even then, their situation is not improving. On Feb 2018, a letter was sent to the home ministry to make the jobs of the Ansar members permanent.
The 672 women who were given temporary jobs as part of rehabilitation were made permanent in 2014.
However, a letter from the Ministry Of Public Administration, signed by Senior Assistant Secretary MK Hassan Mahmud, refused to create 1080 permanent posts since the Ansar members in question did not have the required eligibility as per the Ansar regulations 1996.
But another letter requesting to make the posts permanent was sent to the public administration ministry from the home ministry on May 29.
A Special Ansar member observes: “There is no security in this job; when I joined the salary was Tk 2,200 which is now Tk 13,000. It’s difficult to run a family with this amount.”
We don’t understand why we are facing such hardship when the PM gave an order and the president relaxed the rules, said a member.
Joint secretary of the home ministry (Ansar) Md. Halimuzzaman, adds: “This is not the sole task of the home ministry; other ministries are also linked to this; if they do not cooperate then the home ministry has nothing to do.

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