Bangladesh saw another very dark chapter getting written in their history on 25th of February 2009. The BDR jawans rebelled, held some very high ranked BDR officials hostage and took control of their Headquarters in Pilkhana road. This was the start of a series of very disturbing events. Here I have laid down the cold hard facts and tried to isolate myself from the emotions. Most of the things that has happened is still incomprehensible, and I will leave it to the reader to ponder on this matter and choose for themselves.The chain of events started on the day before the Mutiny....on 24th of February 2009. On that day, the BDR week started. The high ranked BDR officials and the Sector Commanders from all over the country came to Dhaka and held a parade and presented their arms to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The BDR jawans had some requests, or rather demands, that they wanted to present to the PM on that day. The BDR currently works under the Army. The Army gets a lot more advantage and facilities compared to BDR jawans, who work at the root level. The BDR were to ask for a bit more equality, ideas like increased wages and facilities and higher ration. Instead of making these demands, the officers made demands of lavish quarters and their own personal cars. This is because the officers in BDR are chosen from the Army and not the BDR. As a result these officers get the same respect and advantages as the Army, and don't care for the jawans. So during general Assembly the next day, one of the jawans stood up and asked why their demands were not made yesterday. What exactly happened then is not clear, but a scuffle started. May be the officers humiliated or striped a jawan off his rank or something of similar fashion, the BDR immediately rebelled. At that time we understood that 1 or may be 2 officers were killed, and the rest were held hostage inside the BDR Headquarters. The situation escalated from there.
As it seems, this revolution has been planned from long before. After it broke out, the jawans took positions in their gates and other strategic positions with heavy weapons. The Army, RAB and Police were called upon to bring the situation under control.They brought with them tanks and helicopters and other weapons of mass killing. They could not make any progress whatsoever because every attempt they made to enter the HQ was thwarted by means of heavy gunfire. As a result, chaos and panic quickly spread through Dhanmondi, New Market and Azimpur area. In this exchange of bullets, a few innocent citizens got injured and one was reported dead. All the schools, universities and other offices and organizations were closed in that area and people were seen running in the streets in fear of their lives.Now, from all this, it seems what BDR is doing is severely wrong. It actually is, but we are yet to know why they did it. The BDR accused the Army of many inconsistencies, some of which are very serious. They claimed that they were deprived from their rights, and accused the Army of corruption and money laundering. A direct link has been made to the sky-rocketing price of goods in the market. The edible oil, daal, onions and other goods that come to Bangladesh through India - Bangladesh border, are taken to storage warehouses controlled by the Army. This way, the supply of these goods were reduced in the market and since these goods are consumed the most, their prices went high. When the prices go high, the Army release these goods in very small amounts and take advantage of the high prices. These same goods were being used in "Operation Daal Bhaat" and all the profits, the BDR jawans claimed, went to the bank accounts of Army officers. During elections, the vote centers were being guarded by BDR jawans, RAB and Police. Though the other two got the money for this job, the jawans did not get a single paisa of the 8 crores that they were suppose to get. Also the jawans complained whenever any one of them mustered up the courage to bring these topics up, they were humiliated, beaten up and striped off their ranks. After all this and many more disgraceful incidents, the patience of the BDR jawans were being stressed to the limits and so they rebelled.
All throughout the next day, the situation got worse. Bullets were being fired from both sides. Several attempts were being made to free the hostages. Choppers were sent to monitor the situation from above, but were subject to heavy gunfire from the jawans below and so had to move away. There were announcements made from inside the HQ saying that the jawans are not enemies of the people and they needed their support.
The jawans made some demands. They no longer wants to work under the Army and wants increased wages and facilities and granted General Amnesty. The government granted them this. A team of govt. officials comprising of local MPs and Home Minister were sent in to talk with the jawans and later, 14 of the jawans were taken so that they could directly talk with the PM. The meeting took place and situation seemed to be calming down. The jawans still refused to let the hostages out. PM asked them to give up their arms but they refused to do that too until their demands were met.
At around 2:00 PM, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressed the country. She expressed deep sorrow and regret for the entire situation. She asked everyone to be cooperative and not be provoked or pay attention to rumors that are being spread by people and parties that seeked political advantage. She understood why the jawans rebelled and that they were pushed to the limit. But she earnestly asked the BDR to surrender arms for the sake of the country, or she will be forced to take the most sever action against them. She said that demands that could be accepted right away has been met, and that require negotiations will be met in a systematic order.
The following day saw the situation progress a little bit. Hostages, as many as 20 were released. The jawans, being assured by PM's promises, agreed to surrender their arms. They did so and everything got under control. The BDR Headquarters fell immediately under police control. Media people rushed in to provide the general public with images and footages of what actually happened inside. While trying to do so, they made a mess of the whole thing. Their method of reporting was very aggressive and manipulative as the manner in which they reported prevented the free flowing thinking of general public and direct our thoughts in favor of the BDR. We did not know this at that moment because we were too shocked to think anything for ourselves and too taken aback by the magnitude of the whole thing.
The public opinion did move in favor of BDR. Yes, we felt sorry for them for being so badly mistreated for so long. Well, the people of the entire country has been mistreated for so long that our heart cried out for these jawans. They revealed shocking information about the Army being directly involved with the recent problems. The fact that all of us being frustrated of the 2 years Army regime also helped. We thought this was the cumulative vengeance of the jawans. WE THOUGHT WRONG!! After the media people rushed in and we saw what actually happened inside. What we saw, I don't think any of us will ever forget. It was a massacre! The evidence of brutality, inhumanity and downright savageness was everywhere. It was Holocaust all over again! Prior to this day, about 30 hostages were freed and we did not know what happened to the other officers and their families. But now we knew. The person the jawans hated the most was their DG Shakil Ahmed. He was killed in the most brutal manner.....and so was his wife. Their house was looted and destroyed and their belongings and cars were burnt. Several mass-graves were discovered, inside which were found the half decayed body of the dead officers. All of them were murderd, some of whose bodies were found earlier floating down the sewerage line. The family members were either killed were severely beaten and their houses were looted and belongings looted.
These were only a few examples of their brutality. Making the full list will probably take DAYS! The public opinion changed radically overnight. People who initially felt sorry for the jawans now felt sick to their stomach. It was overwhelming. They could not accept this mass murder. Bodies after bodies were being discovered. Scenes of carnage and animal rampage filled the TV screens and newspapers. Buried weapons were found out. Social websites and blog sites got flooded with posts and comments. Several disturbing questions were posed in the aftermath of this incident. Instead of asking them myself, I will provide links to sites that had heated discussion on these topics. To understand the full weight of the situation, I suggest going through these links and reading the posts and at least a few comments. They are the most enlightening. Not all claims in those posts are true....some are complete bullshit. But we are educated people. We cannot be fed such worthless stuff. We have logical reasoning and have to be able comprehend what is going on.Long Live Bangladesh!!
Here are the links:
http://www.cadetcollegeblog.com/saif/4500
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=57609901948&topic=7063
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=57609901948&topic=7114
