Local-foreign conspirators carried out BDR mutiny: Commission chief

The army was standing still like what happened at Plassey while local and foreign conspirators carried out the mutiny of the officers of Bangladesh Rifles (currently Border Guard Bangladesh - BGB) at Pilkhana.

The chief of the independent commission that has been formed to investigate the BDR killing, Major General (retd) ALM Fazlur Rahman, remarked this while exchanging views with the family members of the martyrs at the Retired Armed Forces Officers Welfare Association Club (RAOWA ) at Mohakhali in the city Monday.

The “national independent investigation commission” organised the meeting at Anchor Hall of RAOWA Club.

He said this was not any rebellion, this was a conspiracy to kill the officers.

The head of the investigation commission further said, “Sheikh Hasina is among those whom we suspect to have connection with the BDR carnage. She is staying in India. We will contact the Indian High Commission and either request for her extradition or our team would take her interview going there. We shall do this through the foreign ministry or directly - whatever is legal for us.”

RAOWA representatives, relatives of the people killed in the BDR carnage, officials who could come out alive and the officials who were serving in the army at that time attended the event.

The investigation commission Fazlur Rahman said, “We will request the families of every martyr in the BDR carnage to cooperate with us. We will sit and talk with the officers who could come out alive, tortured and sacked. This commission has been constituted after 15 years of the incident. By this time, a lot of evidence has been damaged. Despite this, we do not intend to do anything in hiding. Whatever happens will happen through transparency. We will inform the nation everything through the media.”

He further said, “This commission has been formed due to a national demand. The government, we, the nation, suspect was behind this carnage, has been ousted. I would request all, keep faith in us. This commission has been working as a court. So there should not be any such conception that this commission does not have any value. This is a national independent commission. The court will take into cognizance the remarks and recommendations we would propose. We want to ensure justice.”

“We shall try to complete the investigation within the designated three months we have been given. The home adviser has assured us of extending the deadline if we require more time. There are two parts of this investigation. One is domestic and another is trans-national. We want to complete the investigation’s domestic part within two months,” he expressed.

Fazlur Rahman said, “We have been asked to investigate those two issues. But that did not say anything about investigation against those who are being tried. I have written to the chief adviser, so that we can work on them as well.”

Addressing the meeting to exchange views, the head of the commission said, “I was the commander in the Padua-Roumari clash, where India was defeated. After that incident, I was discharged though I had four more service years left. I don’t want to say which government fired me; you all know that. But we will try to know why the step was taken.”

Fazlur Rahman said, “It was not the Awami League government that discharged me for defeating India in the Padua-Roumari clash. The Awami League government relieved me from the BDR duty and made me GOC of the 11 Division. I was fired when the government was changed. That is why none will remain outside of the investigation.”

Requesting people to share information with the commission for the sake of investigation, the former BDR director general said, “Many said India is involved with the BDR killing, some other generals are involved. But only saying so won’t do anything. You have to provide evidence in support of the claims. We ask you to share evidence. Provide us with any evidence be it small or large, important or unimportant. This is a matter of large scale investigation. We shall tread the ground we need for this.”

Fazlur Rahman maintained, “AS of now two commissions have been formed nationally in this regard. We will check those and try to know where the gaps are. We shall meet the army chief and seek his cooperation to know about the condition of the army at that time.”

Relatives of martyred army officers spoke against Lieutenant General (retd) Md Moinul Islam, the first DG of restructured BGB after the BDR mutiny.

Speaking about this, the commission chief said, “General Moinul was going abroad but we have stopped his foreign tour.”

Fazlur Rahman said, “Let’s assume there was conspiracy, the then government was involved with that, India was involved, some conspirators there were also involved, even a few Bangladeshi politicians were involved in it - I understand it all. But would there be any mutiny if the army moved in there on that day? Never. The incident of Plassey was restaged there. The way the soldiers stood at the Plassey’s battle ground and the force of Lord Clive snatched the freedom, a far more nefarious and heart-wrenching incident took place in Bangladesh in 2009. The army remained unmoved and the local and foreign conspirators carried out the carnage.”

This former army officer further stated, “I don’t think this was a BDR rebellion or the soldiers could kill the officers so brutally for any demand. We tried to find out who was posted at what time at the BDR at that time. What could an officer do in just seven, 10, 15 or a month that he had to be killed. This was not a rebellion, rather, this was a conspiracy to kill the officers.”

“The BDR was made weaker through this killing, the force’s name was changed. The army and the country were made weaker. We want to make such recommendations so that there could not be any repetition of the 25 February incident in Bangladesh,” he added.

The commission head maintained, “We have started working at the BGB headquarters. We were not given any security or any vehicle. But I want to assure you, we will complete the investigation even if we are not given those. The investigation commission will assess the statements. From there we will try to find out who or which country was helped. Hopefully, we will be able to present the investigation report to the nation within a short time.”

Mentioning that they will propose to observe the BDR mutiny day as “Sena Hatya Dibos (soldier killing day)”, the commission chief said, “There will be proposal to play Hyder Hossain’s song ‘Kototuku osru gorale hridoy jole shikto?’ as a nationally important song at all places on 25 and 26 February. We will keep nothing beyond our observations.”