BDR mutiny: BNP demands fair probe

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UNB, Dhaka :
In the wake of the High Court’s verdict on Pilkhana carnage, BNP on Tuesday demanded a fair and neutral investigation into the BDR mutiny, 2009 to unearth the main motive behind the brutal incident.
“I don’t want to make any comment about the verdict, but I want to say something about the court’s observation. What was the main motive behind the incident? Whether there was only an effort to make the government embarrassed or make Bangladesh a failed state,” said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Speaking at a special council of Jagpa, he further said, “Even we didn’t have to lose 57 army officers during the Liberation War. Whether those who tried to break Bangladesh’s security system and demoralise
the army have got benefits from the incident. We should reveal it through a fair and neutral investigation.”
Jagpa, a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, arranged its special council at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh to reshape its leadership following the death of its president Shafiul Alam Prodhan.
Earlier on Monday, the High Court delivered its verdict on the BDR mutiny case asking the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to constitute an investigation team to look into why the intelligence unit of then BDR failed to detect the impending incident.
Fakhrul also questioned why the intelligence agencies had failed to know about the incident. “Why didn’t the government take necessary step promptly to suppress the revolt on that day? Why did the government spend long time to take the decision (to overcome the problem)? I don’t want to blame any one. But we’ve the right to know about it.” He said no fair and impartial investigation has so far been conducted into the incident. The BNP leader also said the report of an investigation carried out by the army has not yet been published while the full report of another investigation conducted by the government has also not been published. “Every citizen has the right to know about findings of the reports.”
Fakhrul alleged that a deep-rooted conspiracy has long been on to make Bangladesh a failed state.
He bemoaned that Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) which had been working with reputation for 200 years in safeguarding the border was destroyed suddenly through the mutiny. “Even, the name of the force was changed.”
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