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UNRAVELING BDR MUTINY

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While Bangladesh continues to grapple with the fall-out of BRD mutiny that rocked the BDR HQ at Pilkhana on Feb 25, the name of Salauddin Qader Choudhury (SQC), a shipping tycoon has come up during preliminary investigation of some of the rebels. It also transpired that Tk 1 Crore was pumped in to assist, instigate and boost the morale of the rebels.

SQC is very close to the Pak ISI and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. He belongs to a well known “Razakar” (Pak collaborator) family settled in Chittagong. His father Fazlul Qader Choudhury was Speaker of the earstwhile East Pakistan Assembly. He had opposed the liberation war in 1971 and collaborated with the occupying Pak army.

SQC and his brother, Giasuddin Qader Choudhury, (GQC), are known to patronize a large number of armed cadres and gangsters who indulge in both criminal and Islamic militant activities.

Meanwhile, a startling revelation has come from the new BDR chief Brig Gen Mainul Islam who told reporters that video footage of the mutiny shows “outsiders wearing BDR uniform” taking part in killing, looting and plundering at the BDR HQ on the fateful day. Over a hundred army officers were brutally killed on the day.

The barbaric and gruesome manner in which the army officers were massacred, their bodies mutilated and burnt before being dumped in sewer lines and mass graves is reminiscent of what the occupying Pak army and their local Islamist allies and collaborators did in 1971.

The scale of brutality of the murders bear tell-tale signs of the involvement of pro-Pak elements particularly those adhering to Islamist ideologies. These elements were earlier infiltrated in all tiers of the administration including the army, police and BDR during the 5 year BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) rule from 2001 to 2006.

Taking advantage of its position in the then Govt. and close proximity with SQC who was Advisor to PM Khaleda Zia, the JEI had managed to get many of its cadres trained at BDR Training Center at Baitul Izzat near Chittagong.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was scheduled to visit BDR HQ on Feb 25 in connection with ‘BDR Week’. Investigations reveal that an elaborate plan was drawn up by the pro-Pak elements and Islamist hardliners to eliminate her on the occasion. Luckily she pre-poned her visit to Pilkhana a day earlier on Feb 24. The plot was to create chaos and confusion while targeting Sk Haisna at Pilkhana. Realizing the gravity of the situation and threat to her life Sk Hasina was moved to an army guest house soon after the incident for her safety. Rattled by these developments Hasina immediately sought assistance of the Scotland Yards and FBI in the investigations.

Hasina led Awami League (AL) returned to power with an overwhelming majority in the last parliamentary elections held in Dec 2008 when trial of the Pak collaborators and war criminals was one of the major assurances made by her. AL has hitherto been quite diffident on the issue of trial of war criminals. Even during the brief interregnum (1996-2001) when AL was in power, no step in this regard could be taken as the bureaucracy and military continued to be dominated by the pro-Pak and Islamist elements.

Now the new parliament has passed a resolution on Jan 25 calling upon the Govt to undertake speedy trial of the “Pak collaborators and war criminals”. This has set off panic in the ranks of JEI as almost all senior leaders and cadres of the party had collaborated with the occupying Pak army and taken part in killing and brutalizing the freedom fighters during the liberation war in 1971.

Apprehending that the noose would soon tighten round its neck as Hasina could use the overwhelming mandate to decimate and crush, senior JEI leaders have embarked upon a course of action designed to discredit Hasina Govt in every possible way portraying it as an agent of a “foreign power”, a euphemism for India.

The JEI has been the vanguard of Islamist politics and anti-India propaganda in Bangladesh. All pro-JEI publications including “Naya Diganta” (owned by well known Pak collaborator Mir Qasem Ali who is a JEI central working committee member) and Sangram (JEI mouthpiece) launched an aggressive anti-India campaign with the objective of influencing the investigating agencies and scuttling the move to hold trial of the war criminals.

The Commerce Minister who is also the investigation coordinator, has recently revealed the involvement of Jamiatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants in the carnage.  JMB has been inextricably linked to JEI and its unbroken linkages with the latter have helped it immensely in terms of unhindered growth.

Ever since the execution of 6 top JMB leaders including Abdur Rahman in March 2007, Bangladesh intelligence agencies have been apprehending JMB retaliation. These agencies do not preclude the possibility of JMB activists joining hands with JEI in unleashing the Pilkhana carnage. Way back in 2006, Senior JEI leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi had pleaded with then PM Khaleda Zia for clemency to the JMB militants saying they could be useful to his organisation as its assets on the ground.

Although the BDR soldiers had apparently rebelled over disparity in pay and service conditions vis-à-vis the officer cadres who are entirely drawn from the army, the leadership of the rebellion was soon hijacked by the pro Pak Islamist forces to tilt the balance against the AL Govt. As the intricacies of the BDR mutiny gradually unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that disgruntlement was cashed in for a full scale showdown to project Hasina regime as a failed and incapable Govt and to pre-empt any move for trial of the Pak collaborators and war criminals.

The Bangladesh dailies aligned to the pro-Pak Islamist lobbies continue to implicate India for the massacre through speculative and misleading reports. Attempts are being made to describe the carnage as a reprisal for the Roumary  incident when 15 BSF personnel were killed by the BDR. In an attempt to link JMB with AL, it is being rumoured that JMB was AL’s brainchild and the AL Whip in Parliament, Mirza Azam, was close to JMB militants as he was related to the recently executed JMB chief Abdur Rahman.

The investigations are likely to be completed soon by all the concerned agencies including the Scotland Yards and FBI.  To bring curtains down on all speculations and conjectures. Falsehood and propaganda always have a short shelf-life.

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