BDR mutiny: Surviving Army officers recall ordeal

Dhaka, Mar 1 (PTI) Giving a chilling account of the
bloody BDR mutiny, Bangladeshi Army officers have revealed
that about 20-25 soldiers instigated others to massacre their
superiors, one of whom pretended to be dead by smearing blood
of a slain colleague on his face to dodge the killers.

Minutes after the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers went
on a killing spree on Wednesday morning, an officer cheated
almost certain death by covering his face with the blood
oozing out of an unfortunate colleague's body.

"Mutineers spotted me and Major Maksud inside the
washroom of the hall (in the BDR headquarters) where we were
hiding," Major Monir was quoted as saying by 'The Daily Star'
newspaper.

He said the BDR soldiers started firing at them from
outside the washroom and Maksud was hit several times. "As
blood gushing out of Maksud sir's body flooded the floor, I
took it in my hands, stained my face with it and pretended
dead," Monir said.

He said he had cut his forehead with a piece of
shattered glass in his desperate bid to make them believe
that he was dead. But, he said, the blood coming out of his
forehead was not enough, forcing him to take the blood of
Major Maksud.

"The men came inside the washroom later and left after
seeing the blood-stained bodies believing that both of us had
died," the Major said.

"I heard a jawan boasting to another jawan that he had
killed 15 officers," he said.

Other survivors say the mutineers fired at their
officers, but they too were overcome by fear at the sight of
piles of bodies and fled the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana area
in the heart of Dhaka.

The survivors revealed that the two-day mutiny that
resulted in the killing of 73 officers and four civilians was
unleashed by a group of 20 to 25 non-commissioned personnel,
who forced others to take up guns and participate in the
killings that followed.

"The small group of leaders, all of whom were based in
Pilkhana BDR Headquarters, carried out all the mindless
killings, most of which took place between 9:00 am and 11:00
am on Wednesday," the survivors were quoted as saying by 'The
Daily Star'.

Some of the rebel leaders went to the arms depot and
broke open its doors. Then they forced other soldiers present
in Pilkhana to take up arms as well, many of whom were there
that day from battalions outside Dhaka, on the occasion of the
BDR Week, the survivors said.

The survivors said there was no specific leader of the
mutiny and added that a few officers were able to come out
alive from the BDR complex because many soldiers protested
when the mutineers tried to kill them, the paper reported.

Col Syed M Quamruzzaman, who was present at the 'Darbar'
or meeting of soldiers and officers at the BDR headquarters
where the revolt began, too had a miraculous escape.

"The guards came armed and were apparently hell bent upon
a showdown," he said after the revolt ended on Thursday,
adding the rebels "barged into the meeting hurling abuses at
us."

"They told us that they were treated shabbily and wanted
cheap rations, higher pay, better working conditions and UN
postings," he said.

Recalling the sordid happenings in the main hall of the
complex, the Colonel said the BDR personnel, some carrying
even sub-machine guns, said they wanted an end to what
they called "army's rule over BDR".

"At gun point, they marched Director General Major
General Shakil Ahmed and other senior officers in a single
file outside the hall.

"Just outside, another batch of the soldiers came running
in and opened indiscriminate firing, which felled the DG and
other senior officers," the Colonel said.

The body of BDR chief Maj Gen Ahmed was retrieved from a
mass grave of 42 officers on Friday. His wife Nazneen was also
killed and her body was found in another grave inside the BDR
headquarters. There was no word on the fate of the couple's
teenage son.

"Bullets were sprayed on me and I was hit in the
stomach. But I managed to crawl into a nearby bathroom to
hide...," Quamruzzaman said, adding he somehow managed to
survive.

"It was cold-blooded murder," the Colonel and some other
Army survivors recounted.

Most of these officers were on deputation to run the
Bangladesh Rifles, which is the country's premier
para-military force.

Though like Assam Rifles in India, BDR comes under Home
Ministry, but it is run totally by Army officers who man all
top posts. PTI Team
PMR
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