BDR mutiny an outcome of deep-rooted conspiracy: Fakhrul
The killings of military officials in the BDR mutiny were the outcome of a deep-rooted conspiracy against the Bangladesh Army, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged.
"It (BDR mutiny) was not just a mutiny as there was a deep-rooted conspiracy behind it. The main reason was to break the morale of the army,” he said.
Fakhrul came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after placing wreaths at a monument set up at Banani Graveyard in memory of the army officials killed in the Pilkhana carnage, marking the 13th anniversary of the incident.
He lamented that the nation has not yet got a proper investigation report on who really were behind the BDR mutiny and no report has been released on the investigation carried out by the army.
"It’s our bad luck that we still couldn’t reveal the truth through an investigation even after so many years. We still don’t know who actually were behind it and why this incident happened! We believe that there’s a conspiracy behind holding back the investigation report (of the army)," Fakhrul said.
On 25-26 February 2009, a cabal of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) killed 74 people, including 57 army officers, of the paramilitary force at the Pilkhana Headquarters.
On 5 November 2013, a Dhaka court awarded death sentence to 150 BDR members and two civilians, and life imprisonment to 160 others in the case. On 27 November 2017, the High Court confirmed the death penalty for 139 out of 152 accused.
Following the heinous killings of the army officers at the Pilkhana headquarters, the government renamed the mutiny-hit paramilitary force BDR as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), changing its logo as well as uniform.
Fakhrul said 25 February 2009, is a very sad and terrible day for the whole nation as 57 officials of the army, the best resource of the nation, were killed on this day through the mutiny.
“Our national security system was completely shattered through this incident. We didn’t lose so many army officers even in the war of independence in 1971,” he observed.
The BNP leader expressed deep shock at the losses of so many lives in the BDR mutiny and prayed for the salvation of the departed souls.
Earlier, Fakhrul along with party leaders and ex-army officials went to the graveyard and placed wreaths at the monument and offered special prayers there seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of the slain army officers.
BNP vice chairmen Maj (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, and Air Vice Marshal (retd) Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, retired army officers Fazle Elahi Akbar, Hasan Nasir, Kamruzzaman, Mizanur Rahman, Sarwar Hossain, MA Hasan, Kohinur Alam Noor and Aziz Reza were there in the BNP delegation.