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 February 25 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 demoralise 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 was it? 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.
Fakhrul criticised the media for 'not running any news' on the BDR mutiny on Saturday.
“Unfortunately we note with sadness that yesterday (Saturday) was February 25, but there was not even a single column of news in any newspaper of the country about the horrific carnage that had taken place on that day,” he said.
Fakhrul said there is a positive sign that the country’s people have started taking to the streets to restore democracy and their voting and other rights.
“We’ve already been on the streets and we’ve been observing different programmes in protest against the price hikes in the daily essentials, including rice, pulses, oil and fuel, since August last year,” he said.
During the current movement, the BNP leader claimed that police gunned down their party’s 17 leaders and activists while many others were arrested and sent to jail by implicating them in false cases. “We must get rid of such an awful situation.”
He called upon people from all walks of life and all political parties to get united to establish a pro-people and democratic government through a credible election under a non-party administration.
"No election will be held in Bangladesh until the caretaker government is established. No elections will be allowed before that,” Fakhrul warned.
He said their moving ached with their peaceful programmes in a democratic manner. “They (govt) are obstructing our programmes…they can’t stop us as people will come up with resistance very soon and we’ll move forward with redoubled speed.”
Speaking at the programme, BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the Awami League government must be held responsible to people someday for its all misdeeds, corruption, looting and killing incidents carried out by it.
"The people of the country have their backs against the wall. They’re waking up. Inshallah, the unelected, undemocratic, usurper and illegitimate government will be ousted. We will be there on the streets with the people until this government is removed,” he said.