Let any premature conclusions not influence BDR rebellion probe THE commerce minister, Faruk Khan, who was assigned on March 10 to coordinate investigations into the February 25-26 rebellion at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in the capital Dhaka, told journalists on Thursday that 'some links of [the banned Islamist organisation] Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh have been found' to the mayhem. A couple of hours later, the local government, rural development and cooperatives minister and government spokesperson, Syed Ashraful Islam, said the government would not comment as to how did the rebellion take place and who were involved until it received the investigation reports; otherwise, the judicial process could be influenced. We tend to agree with the local government minister more.
As we have said time and again, the rebellion at the BDR headquarters and the concomitant carnage, in which so many officers of the army were killed, has exposed a severe breach of discipline in a supposedly disciplined force assigned to guard the country's territorial borders. Hence, it is ultimately the matter of the country's territorial sovereignty that is involved.
Therefore, the investigations need to be comprehensive and conclusive, and need to find answers to such questions as what prompted the rebellion, who were involved, was there any prior intelligence warning of the possibility of a rebellion, if there was, why was the intelligence not worked upon, if there was not, why did the intelligence agencies fail, was the rebellion instigated by forces outside the BDR, even beyond the country's borders. These disquieting questions need comprehensive answers, not just to calm the frayed nerves of the people but also to deter recurrence of a similar incident in any of the disciplined forces that the country has.
The situation is too grave to make premature projections and innuendos. The commerce minister may have based his conclusion on the findings that the family members of some BDR jawans arrested in connection with the BDR rebellion may have had links to Jamaatul Mujahideen. While it is not unlikely that the banned Islamist organisation may have had a hand in the gruesome episode, in a similar vein, some people may draw their own conclusions based on the arrest of one retired BDR subedar who happens to be the president of a ward-level unit of the ruling Awami League. Hence, it is imperative that no one, especially the members of the government, should make any comments based on piecemeal information. Of course, we want the investigations to be transparent and credible and the findings to be made public; but any premature revelations, if they may be called revelations at all, could only do more harm that good.
Meanwhile, the deaths of two prime witnesses of the BDR rebellion – one through suicide and other of cardiac arrest – could potentially lead to the allegations that eyewitness of the carnage are being systematically removed. The government should act decisively to dispel any such misgivings that may crystallise in the public mind. Also, the death of the imam of the BDR mosque, who, according to members of his family, had a heart attack because of the strenuous interrogation he had undergone, could raise questions about the tactics employed by the interrogators. Surely, such allegations need also to be investigated and rebutted. This is important to uphold the principles of the rule of law on the one hand and a comprehensive investigation into such an issue of national importance on the other.
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