Mutiny at BDR HQs

Mutiny at BDR HQs




Three officers, three civilians confirmed dead: PM announces amnesty for rebels: They assure her of laying down arms

News Report
General soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) staged an armed rebellion against their high command at BDR Headquarters at Peelkhana on Wednesday in which at least two senior officers and three civilians were confirmed dead and score others injured.
Col Mujibul Huq, commanding officer of the Dhaka Sector and head of the emergency government''s Operation Daal-Bhat and Lt Col Enayet, commander of 36 Battalion were killed at the early stage of the mutiny.
Bodies of the two senior army officials were dumped in a drain behind the BDR compound, Kamrangirchar police said.
Amjad Ali (50), a rickshaw-puller who was bullet-hit died in DMCH and 13 people injured by stray bullets in Jigatala and nearby areas as heavy gunfire erupted in and around border guards headquarters in the morning.
Eight of the injured -- Amjad Ali (50), Monir (18), Zahir (22), Kamrun Nahar (22), a Dhaka University student, Akhter (16), BDR lance corporal Babul Khan (40), Al Amin, Milton (25), an inmate of Dhaka central jail, and Sayeed Ahmed Rana, a student of Dhaka College are now under-going treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Five other injured-- Rubel, 12, Shakil, 23, Sajjad, 35, and Ifad, a BBA student of the United International University, and Sumon -- were admitted to Bangladesh Medical College Hospital. BDR sources said defiant BDR jawans took up arms and started firing gunshots targeting their officers during a Darbar (grand meeting) at 9:30am when the DG reportedly refused to accept their demands.
At one stage of the agitation, the jawans held the officers-about 30 sector and battalion commanders as well as the DG and DDG-hostage in the Darbar Hall and went on raiding their homes inside the sprawling BDR HQs compound known as Peelkahana. The armed troops started firing, detained the entire BDR top brass in the Durbar Hall and seized control of the compound.
They set up heavy weapons on the three gates and fired out into adjacent areas of Dhanmandi, Azimpur and New Market.
The BDR jawans fired shots out of the compound at civilians on at least two occasions in the morning, witnesses said.
Soon after the incident, army personnel with heavy guns took position in and around strategic points including Nilkhet, New Market and Azimpur area.
The BDR jawans carrying heavy arms were seen taking position at the main entrance of the Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters at Dhanmondi Road 2.
bdnews adds: The head of the border guards-major general Shakil Ahmed-was widely believed throughout the day to be among the dead.
Khondoker Md Tariq Aziz, 20, was shot near Zigatola and died at the DMCH.
Fourteen-year-old Mohammad Hridoy, a street vendor, was the third civilian confirmed dead. He died on way to the DMCH.
Of the injured, 15 lay at DMCH and 10 at Bangladesh Medical College Hospital in Dhanmondi, hospital officials said.
SI Ataur said the bodies of both colonels were sent to the CMH.
Reports of casualties also came from within the BDR complex, as calls were received by family members on the outside.
School teacher Rajab Ali told bdnews24.com that his brother Md Abul Kashem, a deputy assistant director of BDR, was killed by rifle fire inside the BDR complex.
"My brother''s wife told me his body was lying where he fell in front of Darbar Hall," said Ali.
"She said more civilian bodies could be seen lying inside the battle-wrecked BDR complex," he said.
Ali quoted Kashem''s wife, whom he would not name, as saying her husband had been present at the Rifles Week programme at Darbar Hall in the morning.
"He was shot as he was escaping the gunfire which erupted in the hall, his wife told me", said Ali.
"My brother was living in a flat near Durbar Hall," said Ali.
"My sister-in-law called me by mobile around 2.30pm," he said.
The BDR rebels agreed to surrender their arms after a two-hour meeting with the prime minister at her official residence Jamuna, state minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak told reporters at a briefing in the evening.
Our Staff Reporter adds: In the morning, hundreds of BDR jawans covering their faces with yellow cloth were seen staging armed procession in front of the gates.
The army moved in to quell the unrest but it caused a heavy exchange of gunfire all day long.
Heavy weapons like cannons have been used in the fighting while the BDR soldiers driving armored vehicles were shooting towards Bangladesh Army soldiers who were trying to enter the BDR perimeter.
The mutiny by the jawans of the Bangladesh Rifles broke out during a meeting between junior and senior officers.
There is a heavy army and police presence at the scene that is also in the centre of the capital. Panic spread to the streets. The streets have been cleared and shops have been closed.
Due to the violent situation, all the adjacent markets including the New Market have been closed. Doors and windows of all nearby buildings have been closed.
Large column of smoke could be seen rising above the sky of the BDR headquarters.
Thousands of people who have homes in the BDR headquarters area have remained stranded while many relatives of BDR officers and soldiers who had either came out of the perimeters or have just arrived from other places were seen crying for their near and dear ones who might have been held hostage by the situation
At around 11:45am, army personnel encircled the headquarters and were trying to advance slowly to enter the perimeter with firing gunshots.
At that time, one BDR soldier was heard over a loudhailer urging the locals to stay in saying the army is trying to come in, and BDR will stop them by any means.
At one stage, army personnel were offering to talk with the rebel BDR soldiers over loudspeaker while the rebel soldiers were firing gunshots from inside the headquarters.
The battle continued the whole day with military helicopters overhead.
Several bystanders outside the complex were injured and taken to state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The fighting occurred a day after Hasina visited the headquarters and addressed the troops, urging them to become "more disciplined and remain ever ready to guard the country''s frontiers."
UNB adds: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced general amnesty for the BDR soldiers who staged revolt at the Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters Wednesday to press their demands concerning salary and other benefits.
The announcement came following a meeting between the Prime Minister and a delegation of the mutineers of the paramilitary force at the PM'' s official residence Jamuna.
State Minister for LGRD Jahangir Kabir Nanok, who brought the delegation from the besieged BDR Headquarters acting as government emissary, disclosed the Prime Minister''s amnesty declaration at a press briefing at the Jamuna in the evening.
The head of government also called upon the rebels through their representatives to make "safe passage" for women and children out of the besieged BDR garrisons.
The 14-member BDR delegation left the PM''s house at 6:30 pm after the talks.
Nanok, flanked by Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun, said that the prime minister also assured the BDR members that the government would meet their demands gradually.
He said that the DBR members, being convinced by the Prime Minister''s mercy overtures and assurances, promised to lay down their arms and return to barracks.
"During the meeting, the BDR members presented their professional problems and also the problems facing in their routine family lives," the state minister stated.
The Prime Minister gave them a patient hearing, Nanok told the press, adding that through the parley the government overcame an "unfortunate situation".
BDR Deputy Assistant Director Tohid, who was present at the meeting with the Prime Minister, told reporters that the PM announced a general amnesty for the rebel BDR members and assured them of meeting their demands gradually.
"We have promised to the Prime Minister that we would lay down our arms and go back to the barracks," he said.
Nanok, who entered the BDR headquarters holding a white flag (the symbol of truce), said a panicky situation was created across the country following the revolt by the border-protection force''s lower orders.
Whip of Jatiya Sangsad Mirza Azam accompanied Nanok when he went to BDR headquarters at about 3 pm on the peace mission.
Meanwhile, City-dwellers were rushing home while markets, shopping-malls and business establishments closed in the capital sensing curfew in the afternoon following revolt at the Peelkhana BDR Headquarters.
The city almost looked vacant as commuters and vehicle movements were seen gradually thinning from 11am to 3pm.
The shopping-malls, other businesses and educational institutions adjacent to the besieged BDR headquarters and Mirpur Road and Dhanmondi areas were closed as soon as the news of the commotion spread all around.
"Many shopping centres and markets in Malibagh-Mouchak and other areas were also seen shuttered around 2:30pm," says a firsthand report.
The whole of the capital city got gripped by panic within couple of hours of the outbreaks of armed turmoil inside the BDR headquarters at around 9am today (Wednesday).
Speculations were rife in the city that curfew might be imposed anytime after 3pm.