The 10th anniversary of the February 25-26, 2009 rebellion in the Bangladesh Rifles will be observed today while the government has initiated no further investigation recommended by the two probe bodies identify the reason, plot and plotters of the massacre committed during the rebellion.
On February 25, 2009, several hundred soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh, took weapons against their officers deputed from army at Durbar Hall during their annual gathering at the paramilitary headquarters in Dhaka.
In the two-day rebellion, 75 people — 57 army officers, a retired army official, two army officer’s wives, nine BDR soldiers, five civilians, an army soldier and a police constable — were killed.
The families and colleagues of the military officers killed in the carnage have taken programmes to mark the day.
The victim families have organised special prayers at Banani Old DOHS community centre after Maghrib prayers.
The representatives of president Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina would place wreaths on the graves of the slain military officers at Banani Army Graveyard in Dhaka in the morning.
Chiefs of three services, the home secretary and the Border Guard Bangladesh director general would also place wreaths on the graves.
Milad mahfil and prayer sessions will be held at border guard headquarters in Dhaka and all units of the border guards seeking eternal peace of the departed souls.
Even after ten years of the incident, the families of both slain officers and convicted soldiers said that the nation should know the reason behind the rebellion and the plot and plotters of the massacre, as neither any investigation nor any trial revealed them although the trials of all cases but one were completed.
Retired major general Rezaqul Haider said, ‘The souls are crying for justice. An ombudsman may do justice even though the media dare not to speak the truth. Allah will not pardon their generations. Just feel the agony of the kiths and kin of the murdered heroes.’
Like him, many retired senior officials wanted to know who were behind the scene.
The government even so far initiated no further investigation recommended by the two probe bodies it had instituted to identify the reason, plot and plotters.
Families of the victims and convicts demanded that the reports of the government inquiry committee headed by former secretary Anis-uz-Zaman Khan and the investigation conducted by the army be made public, although none of the probes could reportedly identify the plot and plotters.
The report by Anis-uz-Zaman Khan recommended an investigation into the failure to gather intelligence about the planned mutiny.
The government report also stated that the committee was unable to determine the identity of the individuals who planned the mutiny and set it in motion.
The committee also found that many mutineers took up arms spontaneously, either because they believed the propaganda that the army was taking over, or because they were coerced or found it expedient to do so.
The report emphasised the lack of cooperation it received from various security forces, including the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and the Rapid Action Battalion.
The committee noted that because they ‘did not have proper tools, technology, and technique for questioning the suspected persons to reveal the truth, almost no person presented or brought to the committee for questioning provided any important information or proof.’
A 20-member army team conducted an investigation, but the army did not make the results public. The Human Rights Watch reportedly obtained the army report and stated that the army report faulted the government for not having taken a stronger line against Bangladesh Rifles before the rebellion.
The rights group also urged the government to establish an independent investigative and prosecutorial task force with sufficient expertise, authority, and resources to rigorously investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute all allegations of unlawful deaths, torture, and mistreatment of suspects in the mutiny, regardless of the perpetrator’s rank or institutional affiliation.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on various occasions said that he found no need to launch further investigation into the incident.
According to a study conducted by Odhikar, at least 47 rifles soldiers died while in custody.
Over 17,000 soldiers faced different trials for their alleged involvement in the third rebellion took place in the force since the country’s independence in 1971.
Border guard special courts jailed 5,926 soldiers for varying terms on munity charge in 57 cases, including 11 in Dhaka.
In November 2017, a special High Court beach of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder upheld death sentences of 139 soldiers in the case for the massacre.
Death sentences of seven other BDR solders and the then local Awami League leader Md Zakir Hossain were reduced to life terms.
The court upheld life terms of 146 soldiers, cancelled lifer terms of 12 others while two others died during pendency of their appeals.
‘Once we will get the full verdict, we will appeal to the Appellate Division,’ said Aminul Islam, one of the defence counsels in High Court.
Additional chief prosecutor Musharraf Hossain Kajol claimed that the government agency investigation identified the plotters and their plot.
He also claimed, ‘The real perpetrators have already been identified in the investigation.’
The case filed under the Explosive Substances Act is still pending with the Sessions Judge’s Court in Dhaka.
Court officials said that so far 78 of the 1,344 prosecution witnesses testified in 74 working days in the case. The charge sheet was submitted on July 12, 2010 and supplementary charge sheet on March 20, 2011 against 834 people.
During the trial, 19 accused died in jail custody while none of the 20 fugitive accused were held.
The defence counsel said the court usually adjourned for a month and 795 detained accused were produced before the court on every day of the trial.
The defence counsel said that even those who were acquitted in the murder case but named in the explosives case were yet to be released from jail.
Aminul Islam, who leads a set of defence counsels, said, ‘They are being denied justice…We are not sure when the trial will be completed.’
