TOP NEWS

Enemies of Bangladesh benefited through BDR mutiny: BDR chief

By Ashfaq • Category: Top News DHAKA, Bangladesh, Aug 17 (BSS) - Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) chief Major General Mainul Islam today said “foreign enemies” benefited from the February 25- 26 carnage in the paramilitary force as
President Zillur Rahman sought the apex court’s suggestion to fix
the trial mode for mutineers.
“Bangladesh is not enemy-free in the international arena. The country has its foes and they gained from the mutiny,” Islam told the first ever “darbar” or meeting with ordinary BDR soldiers at their Pilkhana headquarters after the February massacre.
This was the scene of the rebellion when 57 army officers
serving the border force were killed.
The BDR chief, however, refrained from naming any enemy but
added that “external enemies still exist and we must be aware of
them” referring to the 1971 attack on BDR troops by Pakistani
occupation army.
“Someone must have benefited from the Pilkhana massacre but
BDR suffered the loss,” he said as over 2,000 BDR soldiers joined
the meeting at the Darbar Hall, the venue where the mutiny broke
out during an identical darbar.
Islam’s predecessor Major General Shakil Ahmed and 55
military officers serving the paramilitary force on deputation
were killed at the venue during an identical darbar on February
25 when the rebellious soldiers carried out the carnage
protesting what they claimed “deprivation” and lack of service
facilities.
BDR authorities invited the media to witness the darbar while
Islam yesterday told BSS that it was part of their efforts to
restore the morale of the paramilitary border guards, which was
heavily shuddered after the carnage.
The BDR chief’s comments came as the President this afternoon
sent a reference to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
seeking a directive on if the mutineers could be tried under
military law, specifically the Army Act of 1952.
State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam told newsmen he expected
that the apex court would give the directive regarding the trial
mode before it goes into annual vacation on August 28.
Supreme Court registrar Mohammad Shawkat Hossain told
reporters that the reference asked “what the (trial) process
should be and if a notice would suffice according to Section 5 of
the Army Act to try the mutineers in military court”.
The government earlier decided to seek the apex court
direction on the trial mode as it was virtually in a dilemma if
the trial should be held under the Army Act or civil Penal Code
while the BDR Act provided no scope for trial of such massacres
or mutinies in the paramilitary force.
Most experts as well as the BDR authorities earlier suggested
the trial be held under the Army Act as both the suspects and
victims belonged to disciplined forces.
But several others, however, feared that the trial under the
Army Act could be challenged in the Supreme Court eventually
lingering the prosecution process and frustrating the very
objective of quick trial of the culprits and proposed the trail
be held under the civil Penal Code.
The BDR Act could be applied in the case as it did not have
any provision for trial of mutiny and the highest punishment
prescribed in the paramilitary law is seven years of imprisonment
for breach of command chain or indiscipline.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was tasked to
carryout the routine police investigation in the case earlier
said over 1,800 BDR soldiers stationed in the Pilkhana
headquarters on February 25-26 were arrested for their suspected
involvement in the mutiny or massacre and most of them were
quizzed in custody.
Nearly 30 civilians including a former lawmaker of ex-prime
minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were
also arrested so far for their suspected involvement in the
mutiny or supports for the rebellion.
CID officials earlier said they were progressing
satisfactorily with their investigations to indict the culprits
while a high-powered government committee headed by a retired
secretary to the government and a high- level military probe body
earlier completed their investigations into the rebellion.
The government committee report said a certain quarter staged
the mutiny using a sense of deprivation of the ordinary BDR
soldiers but only a few BDR men knew about killing plot while it
bluntly admitted “without hesitation that the real causes and
objectives of the gruesome incident could not be ascertained
clearly and it requires further investigations”.