657 BGB men jailed on mutiny charges

657 jawans of 24 Battalion of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Monday sentenced to prison terms ranging from four months to seven years for their involvement in the February 2009 mutiny in Pilkhana headquarters.

A BGB special court acquitted nine of others as allegations against them were not proved.

BGB Director General Maj Gen Rafiqul Islam, head of the Special Court-7, fined each of the convicts Tk 100.

Of the convicts, 108 were handed highest seven years’ jail. Nine were awarded six years, five eight years, three four years and six months, 26 four years, 57 three years and six months, 52 three years, 18 two years and six months, 82 two years, 55 one year and six months, two one year and three months, and 67 one year imprisonment.

Besides, 34 were handed nine months’ jail, 47 six months and the rest 89 four months’ jail.

The court started delivering the judgment at about 10:15am and finished at 1:19pm.

Total 666 out of the 667 accused were produced before the court set up at Pilkhana headquarters in the capital. The other accused died of ‘heart attack’.

Of the accused, 31 confessed to their involvement with the mutiny while the rest pleaded themselves innocent.

The court began the trial proceedings against 667 accused on March 31 last year.

The BGB jawans were convicted on various charges including leaving the Darbar Hall defying the director general’s order, not desisting the rebels from the mutiny, not informing the higher authorities about the mutiny and taking part and expressing solidarity with the mutineers who killed 74 people, including 57 army officials.

Tk 50,000 bounty on each fugitive BDR man

Around 950 jawans still absconding

The government has announced Tk 50,000 bounty for handing over to the authorities each fugitive Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) member suspected of involvement in the February 25-26 mutiny and carnage at the BDR headquarters in the capital.

According to a press release of the home ministry yesterday, Tk 50,000 would be awarded to a person who would hand over to a nearby police station or a law enforcement agency an absconding BDR member suspected to have been involved in the massacre

Identity of the person would be kept secret, it said.

Meanwhile, the BDR authorities are yet to prepare a complete list of the fugitive BDR personnel.

Asked about the bounty, BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam however said, "I do not yet know about the announcement of bounty regarding absconding BDR personnel."

In reply to a question, he said a complete list of the fugitives is still to be prepared.

But Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sources said around 950 BDR members are still absconding.

Earlier, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan said the government would publish a book containing photographs and other information on the fugitive BDR men, and copies of the book would be given to all district and upazila authorities, police stations, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The BDR mutiny left 74 people, including 57 army officers deputed to the border force, massacred.

The CID is investigating the carnage case while a government-formed committee is probing the incident. Besides, the army is conducting an enquiry.

Meanwhile, two more BDR members yesterday confessed their involvement in the mutiny, and were sent to jail while two civilians arrested earlier were placed on a four-day remand.

The case was shifted to New Market Police Station from Lalbagh police yesterday as the place of occurrence (PO) is in New Market area.

A total of 25 BDR jawans so far confessed their involvement in the mutiny.

CID sources said the two civilians-- shoe trader Delwar Hossain and cosmetic trader Mohammad Sumon-- were arrested under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code for allegedly making provocative statements on February 25-26.

So far, 165 BDR personnel and civilians have been placed on remand and 920 BDR jawans shown arrested in the case.

Don't help others to paint Bangladesh as a terrorist country!

Commerce Minister Col (retd) Faruq Khan who has been working as the coordinator of the inquiry into the February 25-26 carnage at the BDR headquarters has stated that outlawed militant outfit Jamiyatul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB) had links to the same.

The statement made by Col Faruq, who is otherwise considered moderate on Thursday was ahead of completion of investigation by the government appointed committee, the one by the criminal investigation department (CID) and another by the army. Many have termed the statement premature.

Not only that, many others complained that he was trying to influence the investigation along a political line. It is possible that he did not mean that.

Faruq Khan's suggestion came a couple of days after the CID, as per press reports, dismissed the possibility of any militant links to the mutiny that apparently was designed to cripple the 70,000-strong force that guarded more than 4000 kilometres of Bangladesh borders.

Another investigation conducted by the military has so far also reportedly not found any links to the involvement of the militant organisation that made its presence felt by setting off synchronised blasts at 63 of 64 district towns on 17 August 2005. Its kingpins have since been hauled up and executed through the due process of law.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told The New York Times that grenades and bullets were chasing her ever since the August 21 grenade attack on her rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in 2004.

"Hasina called the mutiny "a big conspiracy" against her agenda to establish a secular democracy in this Muslim-majority nation of 150 million. She struck a note of defiant resolve.

"She said she was keen to hunt down and punish those responsible for the mutiny. She suggested that several factions unhappy with her agenda could have been responsible, including Islamist militants, whom she has vowed to crush.

"There are many elements," she said in her first extensive interview since the Feb. 25 siege. "These terrorist groups are very much active. This incident gives us a lesson. It can happen again," The New York Times reported.

Syed Ashraful Islam, the Awami League party spokesman, on the other hand, told journalists that the government would not make any comment that might influence the inquiries that are now on. He sounds reasonable.

Even if links to JMB or any other militant organisation were found through the three inquiries, the people concerned should have been well advised to refrain from making any disclosure before the investigations were over or do so only if the investigations gave conclusive proofs of such involvement.

But the statement about JMB involvement which has been repeated by the commerce minister has the potential to serve two serious blows to the country's interests : 1) Give the security forces a bad name that might undermine their international reputation and consequently, lead to the closure of the door of the UN Peacekeeping Forces for them; and 2) give Bangladesh's enemies a weapon to use at will for branding it as a terrorist nation and isolate it for badly needed foreign investment.

The second part of the statement of Col (retd) Faruq Khan that those involved in the mutiny were recruited during the rule of the BNP-led government may be well understood as a move to give part of the blame to the political opposition. But first part of the statement, if not supported by evidence, would only cause serious harm from which it would be difficult for the country to recover.

The ministry of home affairs yesterday presented a report on 12 militant organisations to the Cabinet, Tanzim Ahmed Sohel Taj, state minister of the ministry, told newsmen. Some of these organisations are still operating the report indicated, he said.

The state minister said that the government would examine if these organisations have international or political links and also where from their funding support comes. Needless to say, this is a good initiative. But cheap statements would lead investigations to nowhere.

At this hour of national crisis when the foundation of the vital security forces have been shaken and the entire nation is in a state of uncertainty, important functionaries of the government should better use their judgement and not party politics and avoid the creation of misgivings that can only do harm to the nation.

We have foreign financed NGOs which have been too busy to project Bangladesh as a terrorist-infested country. Even a failed state. In any view of the matter JMB is not a big terrorist outfit to pose a threat for the country's security forces. There are more vicious left-oriented terrorist forces which are more powerful and these forces must not be overlooked just because there are some who are too eager to find Islamist terrorists in Bangladesh.