February 25: On This Day in World History … briefly

2009:  Bangladesh army mutiny results in 57 deaths

The Bangladesh Rifles revolt was a mutiny staged on February 25 and 26, 2009 in Dhaka by a section of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), a paramilitary force mainly tasked with guarding the borders of Bangladesh. The rebelling BDR soldiers took over the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana, killing the BDR Director-General Shakil Ahmed along with 56 other army officers and 17 civilians. They also fired on civilians, held many of their officers and their families hostage, vandalised property and looted valuables. By the second day, unrest had spread to 12 other towns and cities. The mutiny ended as the mutineers surrendered their arms and released the hostages after a series of discussions and negotiations with the government.

The mutiny started on the second day of the annual ‘BDR Week’, which was earlier inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As the session began at the ‘Darbar Hall’ auditorium, a number of jawans (privates) spoke against the higher-ranked army officials, while BDR Director General Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed was making a speech. They demanded the removal of army officials from the BDR command and equal rights for BDR soldiers. Soon they took the Director General and other senior officials as hostages inside the auditorium and later fired on them. They also prepared heavy weaponry at the main entrance gates of the headquarters. The Bangladesh Army and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) moved in and took up strong positions surrounding BDR headquarters.

The Director General of the BDR, Shakil Ahmed, was killed early during the first day of the revolt, along with dozens of other BDR senior commanders of the BDR, when rebels attacked the residences of the officers and killed Ahmed. They also raided Ahmed’s house and looted valuables. Additionally, at least six civilians, including a boy, were killed in the crossfire. On February 25, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered a general amnesty for the rebels except for those involved in the murdering of army officers, looting and other crimes against the state.

On November 5, 2013, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court sentenced 152 people to death and 161 to life imprisonment; another 256 people received sentences between three and ten years for their involvement in the mutiny. The court also acquitted 277 people who had been charged. The trials have been condemned as unfair mass trials without timely access to lawyers and ‘seem designed to satisfy a desire for cruel revenge’, as charged by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights

Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.

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