As Ikram Sehgal narrated in The News, “The Director General (DG) Maj. Gen. Shakil was addressing an annual conference of officers in the BDR Durbar Hall when a handful of Deputy Assistant Directors (DADs), equivalent of JCOs or Warrant Officers, along with BDR jawans, took control of the armory. They then proceeded to murder in cold blood, shooting and/or bayoneting the officers. Even some families, including the DG’s wife and 9 year old son, were brutally murdered.” Also among the victims, besides the DG, was Dacca Sector Commander, Col. Mujib.” The total tally was 85 fatalities including 74 army officers, buried in hurriedly dug mass graves.
Prime Minister Hasina Wajed had been in a state of success, generated by the landslide victory of her 14-Party mahajote (grand alliance). The scenario was almost an echo of the 1970 when the Awami League (AL), under her father, had swept the polls, all alone. This time, the AL won more than three-fourth majority in the jatiyo sangshad (National Assembly) with 230 seats out of a total of 300. Its allies in the mahajote, -Jatiya Party (JP), Jatiya Sramik Dal (JSD), Bangladesh Workers Party (BWP) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) captured another 33 (JP-27, JSD and BWP three, each and LDP, one) taking the total to a staggering 266.
AL’s principal rival, the four-party alliance was totally routed. The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) could muster only 30 seats. Of its three other allied parties, the Islamic Oikyo Jote (IOJ) was out for duck. Jammat-e-Islami won 2 seats, and the Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), only one. The rest went to independents who, too, in the end would cast their lot with the AL for obvious reasons.
The voter turnout of 80 percent (81 million eligible voters) was the highest in the history of Bangladesh elections. And the elections were perfectly transparent because voters used national ID cards with photographs to avoid bogus voting.
With such staggering mandate exultation and a heady feeling of absolute power was natural. All the dreams of her deceased father, the Founder of Bangladesh were crying out for fulfillment. But, instead of attending to more important long and short term issues, Hasina went full blast with the revenge-seekers and started a witch hunt against the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, to try them for “war crimes,” as her foremost priority.
That is why, when it happened, she was taken totally unawares. Shell-shocked by the horrors of the insurrection, Hasina initially announced a general amnesty to those who surrendered, with the threat to crush the mutineers with full force if they refused. The army was called in. And tanks rolled towards the scene of trouble for a showdown. Following negotiations with the government, the ringleaders surrendered.
But after they laid down their arms, Hasina went back on her promise of amnesty. They were detained and are since being “grilled” by the CID. Now, it has been decided to try them before a court martial. At the same time Hasina has invited the FBI to assist in the investigation.
Meanwhile, during the lull, as dialogue was going on between the government and mutineers, more than 1,000 of them are believed to have changed into mufti and escaped to mingle with the multitude. To capture the fugitives, a countrywide Operation Rebel Hunt has since been launched.
Theories are galore. One Bangladesh newspaper, for example, quoted a senior army officer saying that “video footage of the mutiny by the country’s border guards showed outsiders in the BDR headquarters in BDR uniform at the time of revolt,” but the reporter did not question the officer as to who was making the video while massacre was going on and how did outsiders manage to enter the high security area, particularly, when a special function was in progress.
Hasina also said that a “motivated section had intentionally incited the BDR Jawans to stage a bloody mutiny in the BDR headquarters to topple the government and destroy democracy in the country.” Another gem she let fall was that “It was a planned killing.” She could have saved her breath, because, despite their apparently profound rhetoric such oracular pronouncements are sheer hot air, -sound and fury signifying nothing.’
It simply does not jell. Hasina should better look within. What was her intelligence apparatus doingif they could not detectthe simmering discontent among the JCOs, NCOs and ORs of the Bangladesh Rifles and the outside elements who were inciting them to mutiny? Similarly, to say that it was a planned killing, is to state the obvious. Of course, murder and mayhem on such large scale and capturing the armory could not happen on the spur of the moment. Besides, the annual conference could hold no provocation to ignite such mass uprising. It is obvious as daylight that the mutiny was meticulously planned to occur on the particular occasion, when maximum number of army officers would gather.
Moreover, whether indigenous or instigated by outside elements, the planning couldn’t have been done in a day or a week. It must have taken far longer. Therefore, instead of passing the buck or targeting scapegoats, the prime minister must answer why the intelligence agencies remained totally unaware of what had been going on. Was it because their entire energies were harnessed primarily on catching and prosecuting the Jamaat-e-Islami “war criminals?”
In fact the jawans hardly needed “incitement” from any “motivated section” from outside to rise in revolt. Like in the case of the Sepoy Mutiny, the government, itself, had provided enough ammunition. What about the allegation, for instance, that the BDR personnel were discontented because their pay scales were much lower than their army counterparts’ even though their duties were similar?
As a rebel trooper told the New Age: “Although the military officers receive 30 percent of their salary in special allowance for serving in the Bangladesh Rifles, we get a monthly allowance of Taka 260 ($3.80 approx.) for the same job. We run the same risks.” They also felt discriminated against, because only personnel from the army were sent abroad as peacekeepers under UN, where they drew hefty emoluments. A third grievance was that all higher posts were occupied by army officer while BDR personnel were permanently relegated to a subordinate status.
However, while apprehending all escapees would, in itself, be quite daunting, it would also be naive to assume that only those stationed at the HQ had planned and executed the mutiny on their own. They must have had sympathizers in other units spread out all along the border.
Because it would not be easy to sift grain from chaff and since its name has been sullied, some analysts suggest disbanding the BDR. Nevertheless, there has to be an armed force to secure the country’s borders, unless Bangladesh decides to abolish borders with India altogether. But, whether a cleaned BDR is resuscitated or a new force is raised, the grievances that led to the bloodbath would need to be addressed as the foremost priority. Settling scores with political opponents and hunting war criminals can wait.
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