The families of the victims of the 2009 carnage at Pilkhana, the headquarters of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles, on Monday demanded immediate prosecution of those named in the report of the National Independent Investigation Commission formed to probe the incident.
They, urging the authorities to make the full report public without any delay, also demanded the trial of the Awami League, activities of which are now banned for atrocities during the 2024 July uprising, as a party and its ban for direct involvement in the carnage.
‘We demand prosecution of those named in the investigation commission’s report immediately,’ said slain former BDR director general Major General Shakil Ahmed’s son, Rakin Ahmed, at a press conference held at the Retired Armed Forces Officers’ Welfare Association Club in Dhaka on Monday, a day after the commission submitted its report to chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
The commission revealed that the Awami League and a foreign power were directly involved in the carnage while the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, now hiding in India, had a green signal behind the whole incident that saw at least 74 people, including 57 army officers, killed and the then Awami League lawmaker and Hasina’s nephew Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh acted as the chief coordinator in the massacre.
The families of 22 victims of the carnage filed a case with the office of the International Crimes Tribunal’s chief prosecutor on December 19, 2024 accusing Sheikh Hasina, her defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former army chief Moneen U Ahmed and 55 others of crimes against humanity and genocide.
‘We are urging the ICT chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam to take the report soon. Arrest warrants must be issued against involved civil and military personnel immediately,’ said slain Colonel Quadrat Elahi Rahman Shafique’s son, Saquib Rahman.
If the government makes any delay in making the report public, the people involved in the carnage may evade trial, he said.
Slain Major Nurul Islam’s son, Ashraful Alam Hannan, urged the authorities to publish the report on the government website immediately.
He demanded trial of the Awami League and banning the party for its involvement in the carnage.
Rakin Ahmed said that the people involved in the military troops’ inaction during the carnage should be brought to justice.
Slain Colonel Mojibul Hoque’s son, Muhib Hoque, alleged that some journalists and former army officers defamed the victims’ families and issued death threats.
Legal action would be taken if anyone makes defamatory remarks in the future, he said.
Slain Lieutenant Colonel Lutfur Rahman Khan’s daughter, Fabliha Bushra, urged the government to ensure safety and security for the victims’ families.
The investigation commission was formed on December 24, 2024 by the interim government to reinvestigate the BDR carnage after the ouster of the authoritarian Sheikh Hasina regime in a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024.
It reviewed the main report of the court of inquiry formed by the Bangladesh Army on June 11, 2009, and the investigation report of the committee formed by the home ministry on May 11, 2009, in this connection.
