The government has decided not to form an independent commission of inquiry to reinvestigate the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) killings, citing the ongoing legal proceedings related to the incident. The Home Ministry informed the High Court of this decision on Sunday. Deputy Attorney General Tanim Khan informed the High Court bench, led by Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury, about this development. An initial proposal to form a commission to probe the mutiny was made earlier, but the Home Ministry's update on Sunday clarified that the decision had been put on hold due to two pending cases. On February 25-26, 2009, 74 people, including 57 army officers deputised to BDR, were killed during an apparent mutiny by the force's jawans. Pilkhana Massacre: HC issues rule on formation of investigation committee In the case filed over the incident, 152 people were sentenced to death, 161 were sentenced to life imprisonment, 256 were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and 278 were acquitted. But most victims' families, and many others, continued to maintain the real truth behind the unprecedented incident has never been uncovered. The case is currently being heard in the Appellate Division. As the other case is pending in the Bakshi Bazar Temporary Court, the formation of the committee proposed as per the petitioner's demand would conflict with the court order, so it is not possible to form the committee for the time being. The government is keen to strees it has considered the matter with great importance. But as the two cases are pending in the court, no decision could be taken at this stage, according to Home Ministry’s Assistant Secretary of the Public Security Division Md Mofizul Islam.  

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has formed a five-member inquiry committee today to find out the real cause of death of nine zebras at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Sreepur, Gazipur district. The committee has been formed with Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as the convener and Mohammad Abdul Wadud Chowdhury, deputy secretary (Environment-2) as the member-secretary. The other members of the investigation committee are professor and head of the Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University Dr. Mohammad Monirul Hasan Khan, Conservator of  Forest of Wildlife and Nature Conservation Circle, Dhaka and former Chief Veterinary Officer of Central Veterinary Hospital Dr. ABM Shahidullah. Read: 9 Zebras die in Gazipur Safari Park in 3 weeks The committee has been asked to submit the investigation report to the ministry within 10 (ten) working days. It has been tasked to find out the real cause of death of the zebras, identify the negligence of the officers and employees on duty in the safari park in case of death of zebras and make necessary recommendations to prevent recurrence of such incidents. The committee may co-opt any technical member as required in the interest of proper investigation. It may be mentioned that the Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md. Shahab Uddin in a meeting on Tuesday instructed the concerned authorities to form a committee to investigate the death of the animals this month.