AL, its govt involved in BDR carnage: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday alleged that Awami League and its government were involved in the BDR mutiny at the Pilkhana Headquarters that left 57 army officers killed.

"The Awami League government gets unnerved whenever 25 February comes. One of their (govt's) ministers said yesterday (Saturday) whether our leaders Begum Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman were involved in that carnage," he said.

Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader further said, "We would like to say very clearly that Awami League and its government were fully involved in this killing. With their direct cooperation and through their conspiracy and plan, this BDR carnage was carried out to turn Bangladesh into a weak subservient state and to completely demoralize the patriotic army of the country."

Fakhrul said the government's involvement can easily be understood as it talked to the rebel leaders and made a negotiation with them at the time of the mutiny. "What kind of negotiation it was? You compromised with those who were killing the smart officers of our army."

As per the rules of the Army, he said the mutiny must be suppressed through intervention, not by another means. "Moeen U Ahmed was the then Army Chief who played the main role in destroying democracy in Bangladesh through 1/11 (political changeover) and who tried to hamper the country's independence and destroy the army."

BNP arranged the discussion at Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) in memory of 57 army officers killed in the BDR mutiny 14 years back.

On 25-26 February 2009, a cabal of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) killed 74 people, including 57 army officers, of the paramilitary force at the Pilkhana Headquarters.

Following the heinous killings of the army officers at the Pilkhana headquarters, the government renamed the mutiny-hit paramilitary force BDR as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), changing its logo as well as uniform.