Ninth anniversary of BDR carnage today

The ninth anniversary of the atrocious carnage at Pilkhana BDR Headquarters in the capital will be observed today, Sunday, according to UNB.

A total of 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the carnage beginning on this day in 2009.

Floral wreaths will be placed at the graves of the slain army officers at Banani Military Graveyard at 9:00am on behalf of president Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Later, the home minister, the chiefs of the three services, the public security secretary under the home ministry and the BGB director general will pay their tributes to the slain army officers.

Special prayers will be offered at the Bir Uttam Fazlur Rahman Khandkar Auditorium inside the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Pilkhana headquarters at 4:45pm on Monday, seeking divine blessings for the departed souls.

On 25 February, 2009, several hundred Bangladesh Rifles (now BGB) men rose up in armed revolt at Darbar Hall during the three-day 'BDR Week' inside the Pilkhana headquarters and killed 74 people, including 57 deputed army officers.

The mutiny finally ended the following day (26 Feb) with the surrender of the firearms, ammunition and grenades through negotiation between the government and the BDR rebels.

Following the mutiny, the paramilitary force was renamed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

A total of 58 cases were filed -- one for serious crimes, including murder and looting, and the rest for mutiny, in connection with the incident.

Some 152 people were sentenced to death and 423 others to different jail terms and 277 others acquitted in the country's largest-ever killing case.

Among the convicts, 262 mutineers were sentenced to different jail terms starting from three months to 19 years and 161 people, including late BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and local Awami League leader Torab Ali, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

On the other hand, a total of 5,926 BDR personnel were sentenced to different jail terms ranging from four months to seven years in the 57 mutiny cases.