BDR Mutiny Trouble

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090228/ap_on_re_as/as_bangladesh_mutiny_70


More bodies found at Bangladesh mutiny site
By JULHAS ALAM,
Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 28, 9:35 am ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Firefighters dug up 10 more bodies from mass graves at the headquarters of Bangladesh's border guards Saturday, raising the death toll to 76 in the force's two-day mutiny over low pay and other grievances, officials said.

Political allies, who met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her home Saturday to discuss the uprising, called for national unity in a statement issued after the meeting.

Hasina, who took office in January, persuaded the guards to surrender Thursday with promises of an amnesty coupled with threats of military force.

But she said Friday there would be no amnesty for the killers, and her government gave border guards across the country 24 hours on Saturday to return to their posts or report to a local police station.

The mutineers had hurriedly dumped the bodies of dozens of senior officers into shallow graves and sewers at the headquarters compound in the capital, Dhaka. Among the dead was Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed, the commander of the Bangladesh Rifles border force. Dozens more officers were missing, and workers scoured the compound and nearby areas, including a pond, in an intense search for more victims.

"We think there are more bodies," said firefighter Sheikh Mohammad Shahjalal, adding that 10 bodies were dug up Saturday in two mass graves. They found at least one woman's body, which they believed was the commander's wife, he said.

The military postponed funerals for 33 officials until all bodies were found.

"To bury all the deceased with state honors, funeral prayers and burials scheduled for today have been postponed," the military said in a statement, adding that a new date would be announced later.

The bloodshed has raised new questions about stability in the poor South Asian nation and underlined the fragile relationship between Bangladesh's civilian leaders and the military, which has stepped in previously to quell what it considered dangerous political instability.

The country only returned to democracy after elections in late December 2008, nearly two years after an army-backed interim administration took over amid street protests demanding electoral reforms.

Hasina has a bitter history with the military. Her father was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's independence leader and its first head of state, who was killed in a 1975 military coup along with his wife and three sons.

"It's a setback for Sheikh Hasina's new government. It's now a test for her how she handles the military," said Ataur Rahman, who teaches political science at Dhaka University.

"This tragic event will force her to divert her attention from consolidating democracy and boosting the economy to tackling the challenges of national security," he said.

The army chief, Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed, met Hasina late Friday and pledged his support.

"The military will stand by the government," Ahmed told reporters.

Following the border guards' surrender Thursday, search teams moved into the sprawling Bangladesh Rifles compound that houses the guards and many of their families and found the gruesome evidence of the killings.

One corner of the compound, nestled under the shade of coconut palms, held two mass graves where slain officers had been put into shallow holes and covered with dirt. Firefighters used crowbars to pry off manhole covers and recover more corpses from sewers.

The insurrection erupted from the guards' longtime frustrations that their pay hasn't kept pace with soldiers in the army — anger aggravated by the rise in food prices that has accompanied the global economic crisis. The guards earn about $100 a month. They also demanded better living conditions and allowances for their families.

The guards also didn't like the practice of appointing army officers to head the Bangladesh Rifles and were bitter over being excluded from U.N. peacekeeping missions, which bring additional pay.

___

Associated Press writers Farid Hossain and Parveen Ahmed contributed to this report.

BDR Mutiny

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090301/ap_on_re_as/as_bangladesh_mutiny


Bangladesh charges 1,000 border guards in mutiny

By JULHAS ALAM,
Associated Press Writer

Sun Mar 1, 2:39 pm ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh – More than 1,000 border guards were charged Sunday with murder and arson in a uprising that left at least 148 people dead or missing, most of them army officers whose bodies were hurriedly discarded by the mutineers.

The details of what the prime minister called "a planned massacre" emerged after the government withdrew its promise of amnesty and sought to repair its increasingly tense relations with the military.

One man, among just 33 officers known to have escaped from the two-day siege in the guards' headquarters, described the scene as "like doomsday for me."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met with military officials furious that she offered amnesty to the mutinous border guards to persuade them to surrender. The officers argued that lives could have been saved if Hasina had ordered an army assault on the guards' compound.

Hasina told Parliament she had asked for help from the FBI to investigate.

"We'll definitely unearth everything," she said.

The government announced that those directly responsible would not fall under the amnesty.

Firefighters have recovered 77 bodies, but at least 71 officers were still unaccounted for in the uprising at the Bangladesh Rifles border force headquarters in the capital, Dhaka. Teams searched for bodies buried in the compound or dumped in nearby sewers. Most of the missing were presumed dead, said Sheikh Mohammad Shajalal, a firefighter overseeing the search.

The insurrection has raised questions about the stability of Hasina's two-month-old government in the impoverished South Asian country, which has seen nearly two dozen successful and failed military coups in its 38-year history.

Hasina and the military have a long history of mutual mistrust. During Sunday's meeting, she tried to appease the army officials by referring to a 1975 military coup in which her father, Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed along with her mother and three brothers, according to a participant who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the discussion.

"Nobody knows better than me about the loss of dear ones in such a tragic incident," Hasina said, according to the participant.

The charges filed Sunday named six border guards and left more than 1,000 unnamed, according to police official Nobojyoti Khisa. Thousands of border guards were at the headquarters when the mutiny began Wednesday, out of a total force of 67,000.

Some questioned whether the border guards acted on their own.

Ruling party spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam said initial evidence suggested that the mutinous guards may have had outside assistance, but he did not elaborate.

Farukh Khan, a member of Hasina's Cabinet and a former army officer, told Parliament on Sunday that it was part of a "deep-rooted conspiracy" by people who wanted to destabilize the country.

He dismissed claims that the insurrection erupted over complaints of low pay.

By law, the border force's leadership is made up of army officers. Some mutineers said they waged the rebellion out of long-simmering resentment toward the officers, who receive higher pay and more perks.

Maj. Ishtiaq, part of the army leadership of the border force, told reporters that a border guard helped him escape the uprising.

"When the firing began he said, 'Sir, they will kill you, please come with me.' It was like doomsday for me. I then went with him to his residence amid shooting all around. He gave me his clothes to hide my identity," said Ishtiaq, who only uses one name.

"It was unbelievable when the killers rejoiced after killing the officers," he said.

Authorities announced a special tribunal would try the border guards, an apparent concession to soldiers who demanded prompt trials and punishment.

Meanwhile, hundreds of border guards reported back to their headquarters Sunday, after the Home Ministry gave them a 24-hour ultimatum to return to their posts, report to police stations or face disciplinary action.

Some who reported for work said they were on leave or off duty during the mutiny, while others said they fled the compound after the violence started.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Boucher phoned Hasina on Sunday to offer Washington's support, according to a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka.

Bangladesh returned to democracy after elections in late December 2008, nearly two years after an army-backed interim government took over amid street protests demanding electoral reforms.

___

Associated Press writer Parveen Ahmed contributed to this report.