The families of the victims of the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at the erstwhile BDR headquarters in the capital’s Pilkhana area have demanded punishment for the perpetrators and conspirators.
The mutiny, which occurred in February 25–26, 2009, left 74 people dead, including 57 army officers.
Family members of the slain victims said that justice remained elusive even after 17 years of the carnage and urged the newly formed Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government to ensure justice as early as possible.
“Now, our main demand is to bring the perpetrators and conspirators who ordered the killings to book,” slain BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed’s son Rakin Ahmed told New Age on Tuesday.
Nehrin Ferdousi, widow of slain Colonel Mujibul Haque, said that they had been waiting for justice for the past 17 years. ‘We do not want to see any further delay.’
‘We want to know the names of the perpetrators and see them punished for their wrongdoings,’ said Nehrin, demanding that the trial of the offenders begin immediately.
The mutiny occurred less than two months after the December 29, 2008 parliamentary elections, through which the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League came to power.
The 17th anniversary of the BDR mutiny is going to be observed today as ‘Jatiya Shaheed Sena Dibas’.
Families will place wreaths at the graves of the slain officers and others at the Banani Military Graveyard in Dhaka at 1:00pm today.
Different programmes, including special prayers, video presentations, reminiscences by the slain victims’ family members and surviving officers, will be held at the Helmet Hall of the Retired Armed Forces Officers’ Welfare Association in Dhaka at 11:00am.
The National Independent Investigation Commission, formed on December 24, 2024 during the interim government to re-investigate the BDR carnage after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5, 2024 amid a mass uprising, revealed that the then ruling Awami League, whose activities are now banned over atrocities during the July uprising, and foreign powers were directly involved in the carnage at Pilkhana.
It also found that the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, now in India, had given a green signal to the incident and that the then lawmaker Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh acted as the chief coordinator of the perpetrators during the massacre.
Home minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Monday said that the government would form a commission to re-investigate the 2009 BDR carnage.
‘I think either the home minister knows nothing about the commission and its report during the interim government period, or the minister is making a mockery of the issue. We have confidence in the report of the commission formed during the interim government as it can be considered neutral,’ slain Colonel Quadrat Elahi Rahman Shafique’s son Saquib Rahman said.
He said that there was no need to form a new commission. ‘The trial of the perpetrators should begin immediately.’
The commission chief, retired Major General Fazlur Rahman, who is also a former BDR director general, said that the national commission had been formed following a High Court order.
‘I don’t know why the government is forming a new commission. If there is any flaw in our report, they can work on it,’ he said.
Several cases were lodged over the mutiny after the incident.
The murder case is now pending before the Appellate Division, while the case under the Explosive Substances Act is pending before a special tribunal in Dhaka.
Several other cases were filed under the Bangladesh Rifles Order, 1972, and a large number of BDR members were punished after summary trials in those cases.
A total of 328 former BDR members have so far been released on bail from different jails by the Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal in the case under the Explosive Substances Act, said the court’s special public prosecutor Md Borhan Uddin.
He said that 427 are still in jail, 69 died in custody and 20 are still in hiding.
Borhan Uddin said that witnesses demanded the inclusion of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her ministers as accused in the case under the Explosive Substances Act, as they were found involved in the Fazlur Rahman-led commission report.
On December 22, 2024, families of 22 victims of the BDR carnage filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal’s chief prosecutor, accusing deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former army chief Moyeen U Ahmed and 55 others of crimes against humanity and genocide for their alleged involvement in the carnage.
