BDR REBELLION PROBE
Govt body suggests 'field general court martial'
No militancy link metioned in report
Shahiduzzaman The committee the government formed to investigate the February 25–26 rebellion and killing in the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka has recommended 'field general court martial' to ensure quick and exemplary punishment of the perpetrators.
The 11-member committee, headed by retired secretary Anis-uz Zaman Khan, in its 309-page report cited grievances of the BDR soldiers against their officers from the army as probable causes for the rebellion.
Although the grievances were not that strong so as to stage such a big killing, some forces might have used the situation to break the chain of command and make the border force inoperative.
The committee, however, did not mention anywhere in the report even the possibility of links between the incident and militant forces.
The army's 20-member court of inquiry, which submitted its report to the army chief on May 10, had mentioned grievances of the soldiers as the reason for the rebellion and it found no militant link with the incident.
The government investigation committee recommended action against the people who failed to pre-empt the situation and also against the people who failed to take instant action after the incident.
Although the report is yet to be made public, New Age could obtain a copy of the summery of the report.
The committee in the report said the pre- and post-rebellion analysis depicted that the incident was 'well-planned.'
Intelligence agencies National Security Intelligence and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence had sent reports to the Special Security Force before the prime minister's February 23 visit to the BDR headquarters, making only some routine recommendations and without mentioning any odd situation there, the report said.
Seventy-four people — including 57 army officers, a retired army personnel, wives of two army officers, 9 BDR soldiers, 3 passers-by, an army soldier and a police constable — were killed in the 'mutiny and carnage,' according to the report submitted on Thursday to the home affairs minister, Sahara Khatun.
Bodies of two army officers still remain to be identified. The officers killed include a major general, a brigadier general, 16 colonels, 10 lieutenant colonels, 23 majors, 2 captains and 4 officers of the army medical corps.
The report also suggested formation of a national crisis management committee to tackle such issues in future and to immediately raise a force with members from the Armed Forces to check recurrence of such incidents.
The committee suggested reorganisation of the Bangladesh Rifles, formation of a national intelligence coordination committee and relocation of businesses for the intelligence agencies as long-term measures.
Strongly criticising the role of the media during and after the rebellion, the committee called for formulation of a code of conduct for the print and electronic media during national security crisis.
It said the electronic media on many occasions had tarnished the image of the army and at times instigated many negative issues in news and talk shows without knowing the whole matter.
The committee also suggested updating laws of the Bangladesh Rifles and other paramilitary forces.
The committee — consisted of the law secretary, BDR director general, representatives of the Prime Minister's Office, cabinet division, army, navy and air force, police, home ministry and the judge advocate general — recommended that the military, paramilitary forces and other law enforcement agencies should not be involved in programmes such as Operation Dal Bhat.
The committee found that the rebels had killed the officers, including the director general and the deputy director general, looted the armoury, burnt 16 vehicles belonging to the officers, vandalised 18 others, looted the house of the officers and carried out physical assault on the officers' families during the rebellion.
One hundred and thirty-three army officers, including 86 of the BDR headquarters and 47 others who came from different districts on the occasion of the BDR Week, were present when the soldiers took up arms against their offices on February 25.
The officers who survived the killing include 3 lieutenant colonels, 14 majors, 15 officers of the army medical corps, 5 majors of the Operation Dal Bhat, a major who came for the annual parade, 5 majors who came to distribute invitation cards, 7 majors who came to receive awards, 8 regional officers and 14 civilian officers.
The report said the committee for the sake of investigation considered it essential to interrogate the heads of some organisations and some important people and to gather information from the intelligence agencies, but the committee failed to do so for lack of cooperation.
As a result, the main perpetrators of the rebellion and killing could not be identified and the main reason and the motive for the incident could not be found for lack of proper information and enough proof, the report said.
The committee during the investigation requested the National Security Intelligence, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, Rapid Action Battalion, Criminal Investigation Department and Special Branch to provide information and proofs they gathered in their professional analysis, but the agencies did not extended the expected cooperation.
As the committee lacked tools and techniques to interrogate the suspects and unearth the truth, none of the people brought before the committee provided any important information or proof.
The committee believed finding out the reasons and motive of the rebellion and identification of the people behind the incident was difficult and time-consuming.
The investigation committee with the help of an assisting organisation found that many BDR soldiers and other civilians were involved in planning the February 25–26 killing, looting and other crimes in the BDR headquarters.
Quoting the assisting organisation which was not named, the committee in the report said the plan had been carried out for about two months and the perpetrators held several meetings till the incident.
Habildar Munir, sepoy Tarek and Ayub, assistant lance nayek Sayeedur and 25 or 26 other BDR soldiers before the December 2008 general elections met Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh, now a member of parliament. The Prime Coaching Centre's owner Zakir was also attended the meetings.
The investigation found three or four days after the elections, some of the BDR soldiers had met Taposh in his house, Sky Star, where the newly elected lawmaker said that it would not be possible to consider any of their demands but the one related to rations.
In the middle of February, two deputy assistant directors, civilian Zakir and 10 or 12 soldiers also met lawmaker Sheikh Selim who told them that their demands were matters of the home affairs ministry.
They then tried to meet the home minister and when they could not get any direction from political figures, they planned their next course of action and held a number of meetings in different places, including Zakir's coaching centre near Gate 5 of the headquarters.
The committee took 10 things into consideration, including trying to find whether there was any other conspiracy behind the rebellion and killing or any other force or group from outside had given support.
The committee also tried to find whether it was an isolated incident, what the demands of the BDR soldiers were and how much they were justified, whether there were any efforts to meet the demands and whether the rebellion and killing a was a case of venting their grievances.
The investigation also tried to figure out the beneficiaries of the incident and its long-term effects. http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/24/front.html |
