BNP leader terms Pilkhana massacre preplanned

BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain termed the BDR mutiny a 'planned massacre', and said, "it was done in order to kill two birds with one stone. The motive was to destroy BDR and weaken the army." The top BNP leader said this while addressing a discussion at the National Press Club in the city Friday marking the second anniversary of the Pilkhana carnage, reports bdnews24.com. He alleged that the government wanted to conceal the matter and BNP would launch a reinvestigation into the massacre once it was voted to power. The Pilkhana mutiny trial is being delayed deliberately, he said. "Though the trial of the mutineers has started, the government could not start the trial of the murder of the army officials in the BDR mutiny at Pilkhana," he added. Earlier in the morning, a BNP delegation placed wreaths at the memorial built at Banani Graveyard in memory of the army officers killed during the mutiny. At least 74 people, including 57 army officers deputed to the BDR, were brutally killed during the bloody mutiny. The trials of the suspected mutineers are being held under the old BDR laws. According to the BDR laws, the highest punishment for mutiny is seven years' jail, which has been amended to a death sentence under the new BGB laws. Some 3,500 border guards have been facing trial in 40 cases countrywide over the mutiny that spread to battalions outside Dhaka.