Over 1,000 sued for BDR mutiny

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Over a thousand suspected mutineers, including deputy assistant director (DAD) of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Touhidul Alam, have been sued on charges of the February 25-26 carnage inside the headquarters of the paramilitary border force at Peelkhana in the city, reports UNB.

The officer-in-charge (OC) of the Lalbagh police station registered the case against the BDR rankers, including the DAD quartet Touhidul Islam, Nasir Uddin Khan, Mirza Habibur Rahman and Jalil, and soldiers Abdur Rahim and Selim.

Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Muhammad Abdur Rahim accepted the first information report of the case filed by Lalbagh Police Station OC Nobojyoti Khisha.

So far, bodies of 64 BDR officers drawn from the army have been recovered-mostly from mass graves and sewer tunnels. Of them, 48 were identified. Thirty-three others were rescued alive while 71 others still remained missing.

The news of filing the formal and legally cognizable complaint broke immediately after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leaving Dhaka Cantonment after what appeared to be an emotion-charged encounter with the mid-ranking military officers, who lost over a hundred of their colleagues during the two-day mutiny.

The Lalbagh police chief also accused 'over a thousand' JCOs and NCOs but did not name them, duty officer Tariqul Islam said.

According to bdnews24.com, hundreds of 'non-military people' working in various departments of BDR Headquarters have not been able to report in line with a government order.

The home ministry in a notice issued at 1:30pm Saturday ordered all BDR personnel, 'absent form their posts in the wake of the quelled mutiny' to join their posts within 24 hours.

The deadline ended Sunday afternoon.

The border guards began reporting to stations from Saturday evening. Men in uniform gathered at the BDR headquarters and those without uniforms but having ID cards reported at the Abahani Club ground in the city.

'They (officials at the posts) are saying that since we are not soldiers they cannot register us,' one Abdur Razzak, who works with the record wing at the BDR headquarters, said.

The officials at the reporting stations could not say anything about the matter either, he added.

The bewildered staffers were worried as Saturday's order warned of legal consequences if they failed to report by the deadline.

'The notice warns of legal actions but we are here