Prime Minister was advised for negotiations Navy chief tells court on BDR mutiny,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

The chiefs of the three forces had suggested the prime minister to negotiate with the rebels rather than going for military action during the February 25-26 BDR mutiny in 2009.

In his deposition, Vice Admiral of Bangladesh Navy Zahir Uddin Ahmed yesterday told this to the special court dealing with the BDR mutiny case.

The Navy chief was the first high-profile witness to give deposition before the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court set up temporarily at Bakshibazar in the capital.

He said he had come to know about the mutiny through the intelligence director around 10:00am on February 25, 2009. He went to premier's official residence Jamuna around 1:00pm responding to a call from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The army and air force chiefs were also there.

In a meeting with the defence chiefs around 2:30pm, the PM said she had two options before her, negotiation and military action. Since the situation inside Pilkhana, the BDR (later renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh) headquarters, was not clear, military action was not possible.

“We opined that negotiation was the right choice. At the same time, we suggested military action to quell the mutiny with an iron fist,” Zahir Uddin told the court.

But the premier came back a little after the meeting had ended. She informed that a team of 12 to 14 rebel BDR members were coming to Jamuna for negotiation, he said, adding that they waited at Jamuna for the rebel BDR delegation to arrive.

Zahir Uddin said, “…We, the three defence chiefs, joined the meeting [between the PM and the rebel BDR members] around half an hour later. Pointing at us the PM told them [rebels] that if they did not surrender the forces would go for action. Later, assured of PM's pledge to general amnesty, the rebel border guards agreed to surrender and went back to Pilkhana.”

He also said the prime minister had pledged general amnesty to the mutineers without knowing that many officers had been killed in Pilkhana. The BDR delegation did not say anything about the killing despite repeated queries by the premier, said the Navy chief.

“They demanded that the PM declare general amnesty and pass it in parliament. The honourable PM asked about the officers at BDR headquarters. They said the officers were alright. The honourable prime minister then asked them to surrender, release the officers and their families and call to Pilkhana to ask the rebels to surrender arms,” said Zahir Uddin.

“But later we came to know that 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in Pilkhana,” added Zahir Uddin.

During cross-examination defence lawyers asked the Navy chief whether the BDR team was brought by Awami League leader Fazle Noor Taposh, State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak and lawmaker Mirza Azam to PMO, Zahir Uddin said he saw them there.