Home Adviser Lt Gen (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Monday said that with the exception of the Armed Police Battalion (APBn), police officers will not be entitled to use lethal weapons.

"We have decided that no lethal weapons will be provided to the police force. Only APBn personnel will be entitled to use lethal weapons," the home adviser announced after attending the ninth meeting of the advisory committee on law and order in his ministry's conference room at the Secretariat in Dhaka.

Replying to a question about the timeframe for implementing the decision, he said: "We have just made the decision. It will take time."

He added that a committee, headed by Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser on Home Affairs Md Khuda Baksh Chowdhury, has been formed to look into the matter.

The committee will also examine some other related issues, he said, without providing further details.