The BDR should be merged with the Army - as a long term lasting solution.

They have surrendered arms and government is claiming that its over. The government did a good job in ending with minimum bloodshed. Some bdr personnel are escaping in civil dress into the crowd. However Army is still in position to go in. 15 tanks and many armored cars have rolled into Dhaka. They are ready for action. Over 50 army officers have been killed. Its likely they will try to get their revenge tonight (in the name of recovering arms).

Follow blogs for updates and backgrounds:
Live blogging in my blog and in these places:

In English:
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/
http://www.e-bangladesh.org/

In Bangla:
http://www.sachalayatan.com/
http://www.somewhereinblog.net/

Follow the twitter feeds:
http://tweetgrid.com/grid?l=2&q1=dhaka&q2=bdr&q3=bangladesh

I would not be surprised if Khaleda Zia's islamist partisans infiltrated the BDR or had a hand in agitating this mutiny. Her power base is Pan Islamists, Jamaat tarts and proud Razakars.

Also the BDR is involved in routine firing on Indian BSF personnel to give cover to drug traffickers, ULFA and Maoists logistics and plain ole Jihadi's. By no means are their rank and file known for their discipline. They've killed many but who cares over there.

Another basket case on India's doorstep.

I can't remember where I read it, but the officer corps of BDR seems to be derived from army, who have a step motherly treatment towards common rifleman. A lesson, in what happens when you don't listen to those governed.

This is so surreal. First Pakistan starts losing control of its own lands to official Taliban-style regimes, and now Bangladesh apparently has mutinous parts in its army.

Hopefully the Bangladeshi PM has learned a lesson now. I generally despise political dynasties in South Asia - the Bhuttos, the Nehru-Gandhis, the two major political dynasties in Bangladesh, etc. The arrogant tone of Hasina's warning to the mutineers was annoying to say the least. But Hasina's government seems to have handled this mutiny quite well - and I say that a little grudgingly.

It's horrible that civilians were killed in this, but I feel sympathy for the mutineers. They couldn't even hope to address their problems through legal channels (i.e. the courts, parliament) because there would have been so many obstacles, like in India - the court would keep delaying their cases for years, the general corruption and an inefficient bureaucracy would get in the way, etc.

"Arrogant tone of PM" what tone she should have used for people who for their salary issues shoot down 50 people. I am really amazed that somebody could have sympathy for these people. These are not oppressed people they are a part of army structure which usually don't have to amazingly stupid and difficult things like fighting in Siachin. I am not sure anything could justify what happened.

It's horrible that civilians were killed in this, but I feel sympathy for the mutineers

I am very curious about the the thoughts going through the Indian MoS for Defence Mr MMP Raju's head at the moment, btw (from the above linked article- MoS Defence M.M Pallam Raju told Lok Sabha last December that the OROP demand was not acceptable due to administrative, financial and legal reasons.)

A few things to keep in mind:

There's probably considerable misinformation still flying about; so take everything with a grain of salt. For instance, the rumour about this mutiny coming to a head as a result of an [army] officer shooting a BDR jawan during the Darbar seems to be a little far-fetched since officers and troops aren't allowed to take guns into the Darbar.

Based on my initial reading of reports and news/gossip from back home, the civilian government, particularly the Home Minister Shahara Khatun, seems to have handled the situation well, in getting the BDR jawans to surrender. However, with ~50 [army] officers (perhaps more) killed, the Army is furious, and there is considerable pressure on General Moeen, the Army Chief, from his subordinates to mete out punishment (vengeance). Now, theoretically, the general amnesty was declared by the civilian government for the mutiny itself. I believe that does not preclude specific BDR jawans from facing court martials for the killing of superior officers, and hope that that will assuage the army's ire, instead of this leading to mass killings.

Sharmishta:>>POK is full of the more "muscular" Punjabi settlers,

The correct term is Pakjabi now.

5 · Sam said

It's horrible that civilians were killed in this, but I feel sympathy for the mutineers. They couldn't even hope to address their problems through legal channels (i.e. the courts, parliament) because there would have been so many obstacles, like in India

So let me get this straight: You are saying if someone cannot hope to address their salary and other 'respect' problems fixed through courts, you can go around killing 50 people. And you feel sympathy for these mutineers? Do you realize that others might have issues with you due to some actions of yours which you may consider trivial, but what if they just decide to kill you instead? Learn to think, then comment.

This is happening right in Dhaka ?? I hope this ends. I have to commend how S. Hasina has handled it ! Although I wonder how the amnesty can be given now that a mass grave with bodies of officers has been found. But I hope for peace there. Otherwise, fundies will try to take opportunity, like in any other country.

first, i will ignore #12 and some others who clearly are talking out of an orifice not their mouth ears or nose. second, i am going to try to state facts, as best as they are known, based on t.v. local and international, internet media, journos at the site, and oh yes, living 10-15 mins from the BDR HQ. in dhaka.

it is widely believed, even by opposition party, that the situation was handled well, the army restrained, and the outcome better than had the army stormed the compound the first day, which would have led to a HUGE massacre, as well as civil strife. MANY MANY question remain, and I doubt we will ever be told the entire truth of the parliamentary commission to be set up to investigate.

many agree the army/police/RAB could have handled better the BDR jawans escaping over walls in civies. today they showed one news crew capturing this on camera, so clearly the army/police/RAB could have done so in person. When the main witnesses run off into the night/morning in lungis and sandoz genjees, you have pretty much lost the momentum of our post investigation.

this was not, NOT, about pay and amenities as was initially thought, ergo the general amnesty the first day, nor about army being in control of top brass. also widely believed that these tensions are as old as the BDR have been in existence. this was also NOT about the pieces of the pie of the dhal-bhat program (program where the BDR sold basic staples, i.e. rice, flour, oil, potatoes/onions etc at less than market prices to the poor) which the army officers failed to share with the jawans the last 2 years. or whether they were thought of as less than the reg. army, or why they were not able to enjoy the perks of the U.N. missions abroad the army as well as the police are able to do. 15,000+ regulars do not ALL get pissed off at once!!! there were 60,000 more around the country, they did not kill their officers.

there were several factions, no clear leadership, or purpose, or goal. survivor testimony of how one group shot at them, while another rescued and hid them, and a third tried to kill them afterwards backs up how there was little or no coherency in the BDR HQ.

there seems to be no purpose or goal other than cause chaos or terrorise or undermine the civil society we in dhaka have managed to enjoy the past 2 months since elections after 2 yrs + under pseudo army rule.

widely believed the actions speak of influence to cause destabilisation in the army, government, and society at large. who? we shall have to wait and see. an odd truth, we in dhaka have been safer than indians in bombay with the train bombings and hotel massacre.

look, we have seen riot police and army and the BDR itself out on the streets in this area many times during the care-taker government, but the population at large was never under specific threat or danger. most agree we were safer under the pseudo-army rule than we were before. this does not seem to be an attempt at directly over-throwing the government, or the PM. many of these things might have seemed believable the afternoon of the first day, but not that night, nor the next morning. heck, i took the wife and son to a gallery in the area yesterday morning given many schools and businesses were off, causally went to the bank, and even bought some veges, thinking the BDR had surrendered arms and the situation was over. wasn't until the PM's address that we realised the situation was NOT over, and wasn't until we saw tanks, 12 of them thundering past on one of the major roads int he area that we realised it was about to hit the fan. it didn't. one look at them hulking tanks and APC's and anti-aircraft guns (still puzzled abt this given BDR does not have planes or helos), and by evening, they surrendered, and the police were inside already discovering the gruesome details of what exactly they were up to.

look, you can find all of the above on BBC, CNN Int'l, and al-jazeera (also the three int'l news channels available here) as well as the daily star website. what you won't find is the mood. people are pissed, and angry. in one 35 hrs timeframe, countless women, we know of atleast 100-120 officers killed, have been made widows, children fatherless. some have said this many officers may not even have died during the 1971 war of independence. an entire cadre of army officers (on 2 yr deputations by rotation or if you piss higher brass off) killed.

listen, you have to see some of this, which they will NOT show in western media, of bodies being pulled out of sewers, from mass graves and retrieved from the BDR compound. officers were shot (term they use here is brush-fire), some were bayoneted post death, and re-shot. from eyewitness accounts of officers hiding in ceilings or sewer pipes or toilets etc, that the jawans acted like marauding killers, out not to subdue, but basically indiscriminately kill anyone in the army brass. They asked several people to remove their ranks off of shoulders.

this is a bigger deal than people are realising. in the past, with the mujib and zia killings, they had a goal, take over country, martial law etc. here... .. nothing.. no conceivable goal could have been achieved, after officers were killed, innocent bystanders outside compound injured, the sentiment of the population would be 100% against them. they would not survive the armies intervention (they shot at a flying gunship overhead, which in turn fired and killed some of the BDR jawans). the army was preparing for a hammer-blow, side-streets leading up to the main gate were thronged with personnel, and more or less after we saw the tanks rolling past, so were we.

it is easy to arm-chair analyse sitting somewhere else basing our views on tv, but this was something pretty big which we are barely understanding. they did not kill for purpose, or to achieve a goal, they seemed to have killed unnecessarily, and brutally.

peeps, stick to int'l MSM on this one, preferably local tv or newspapers here in dhaka, or first hand accounts. blogs are iffy.. most of what i said can be gleaned off of the three main sources i stated and wire services. the rest is my first hand account being here, in the immediate vicinity, as well as contacts in the army, government, and journalist at the scene. Be warned about media though, what we were hearing on TV and reading online as it was happening was not exactly what we were being told from the scene by people on the ground in position to know. Some of it was propaganda, like the Home Minister taking arms from jawans surrendering yesterday morning, when this thing did not die down until late evening.

I heard one bemused, as if this thing was funny, moron saying the government and PM should step down, or if the army goes in after amnesty, the government is at fault. Until yesterday evening, we had NO clue about the extent of the brutality inside. one thing is for sure, if the government does not bring culprits ot justice, or finds out who was behind this as is being generally murmured now, the government is going to have a very large effed off population!

To dudedac it's good to get someone giving their first hand account of the situation.

Do you get a sense of whether things will improve or get worse in the upcoming weeks? (yes i know it's difficult to predict)

...i ask as i'll be travelling to dhaka in a few weeks and really hope there wont be any curfews/strikes etc

12 · cp said

Let's just merge Bangladesh with Pakistan again...

Go to hell you a-hole

dudeDAC Many thanks for your comment. We don't really know what's going on, and I'm frankly not as well-informed as I'd like to be. Please keep us updated and include links!

Also, my apologies. I've been away from the bunker for a while, so assumed Rajni the monkey was around to delete unwanted comments. Will get the Intern to keep a closer eye. In the meantime, let's please ignore comment#12 and move on. Further comments of that nature will be removed.

Increasingly, the apparent planning with which these attacks took place reminds me ominously (and, I realize it's not a perfect analogy) to the murder/liquidation of Bengali soldiers in 1971 by the (West) Pakistani Army (i.e, Operation Searchlight and its bloody aftermath).

I still can't believe this happened. I have to say that it's somewhat horrifying that there is more interest in any of the slumdog stories than for this very unique atrocity. Maybe people don't understand what's happened? I hardly do.

I have to say that it's somewhat horrifying that there is more interest in any of the slumdog stories than for this very unique atrocity.

I agree--the relative lack of interest in this does call into question the "south asian" heuristic.

19 · rob said

I agree--the relative lack of interest in this does call into question the "south asian" heuristic.

Rob, please drop it. We aren't going to change. Don't give trolls an excuse to divert even more attention from this issue, with your comment.

FYI- a lack of comments on a post is not indicative of a lack of interest or concern. If any of you pay attention to other threads, when people delurk, they often say, "I never commented because I didn't have anything to add." The vast majority of our readers DO NOT COMMENT. Please do not draw erroneous conclusions from this fact.

Yes, sorry--my comment just popped into my head, but, upon reflection, yes, I agree with, you SM intern.

While I comment on other threads, it is a little difficult to speak up here. I am not qualified to comment on these issues (such as treatment of BDR jawans, the alternatives available to them, political exploitation of the situation, and whether any response could have prevented killings), and do not want to ask ignorant questions, especially as this an emotional issue for many people (especially those grieving right now).

Thank you, Cicatrix, for blogging this. I will continue to follow the mutiny and its aftermath.

I also apologise. I didn't mean to be a troll.

In more recent news, another two grave/ditches have been found with a total of 10 bodies. I believe this brings the number of bodies found to be about 72 with dozens still missing. The news outlets have revealed very little of what has gone on and the number of stories and rumours that are circulating has subsequently grown. I hope half of what I've heard isn't true.

in the last few days, over talking to people, all of whom seem to have a source or another, one thing is emerging, the momentum is being lost in actually finding out who did this, why, and supported by whom. i'll leave it to the MSM here and int'l to provide updates, i.e. 2 new mass graves found as mentioned earlier etc. today i heard that within the army there is a growing anger at the PM's response, which i find bewildering. the first day after the incident, it was widely panned that the Gov. handled the situation well. today i heard that the army is angered by the lack of forcefulness. tomorrow, perhaps they will be angry the sky wasn't blue enough today, or the sun too yellow.

what you guys may not see, which we are unfortunately able to see, is the complete lack of discipline in the BDR HQ in the investigation. journoes are freely walking about through the officers houses and halls where killings took place. i am a bit bewildered, because they show the CSI's here, you would think people would know not to disturb or contaminate a crime scene.

also, the blame game began in earnest this morning...

this thing is going to get swept under, it is sad, and heartbreaking, lots of people died aimlessly and horribly, all day yesterday and today you can hear the special prayers mosques do after a person dies. i think as they are finding the bodies, they are trying to bury them as quickly as possible. as days go by, and more and more people are found, we are hearing of people we know or knowof whose immediate relatives were in there, and have been found dead.

life does not seem to have the same value as in the western world. the world should be horrified that this many people were killed in this fashion in a country which just got a democratically elected government not 2 months ago.

btw, kudos to you for writing the post, it is a shame there hasn't been more of an interest.

check out the link via my name to photos on flickr. whereas i was a bit respectful of the tanks rolling by (having seen the damage they can do without even shooting shells)and did not want to draw attention to myself with a big ole camera, the 100's of people who thronged the streets and were running along or touching them while they were stationed by the BDR HQ did not quite have the same sensibilities!

dudeDAC, those pictures are stunning...May I use them in a new post? I'm going to go ahead, but please let me know (in the comments here) if you'd rather I didn't. Will remove them if so.

ofcourse, if you could just make sure you provide a link back to my flickr stream, and give attribution to: stoneßµ∂∂hå (my moniker on flickr)! cheers

"mr." dudeDAC