The Chairman of the National Independent Investigation Commission, retired Major General ALM Fazlur Rahman stated that the commission is operating in a "well-organized" manner to uncover the truths behind the massacre at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters in Pilkhana, reports BSS.
The retired general, who once led the paramilitary force to guard the country’s frontier years ahead of the carnage, said that the commission was working to gather all necessary evidence with a focus on five relevant aspects of the bloody mutiny.
He said, “The areas included unearthing the true nature of the incident at Pilkhana, identifying perpetrators, accomplices, conspirators, evidence destroyers, instigators of the carnage on February 25 and 26, 2009 when 74 people including 57 military officers who were serving BDR on deputation, were killed.”
“The Commission has been tasked to complete its task in 90 working days and so far we recorded testimonies of 37 individuals in 41 working days,” he added.
According to officials familiar with the reinvestigation process, those who testified before the commission until now are three lieutenant generals, two major generals, five brigadier generals, four colonels, four lieutenant colonels, seven majors, two captains, seven BDR soldiers, and three victims' family members.
“We expect to complete our task within the stipulated time frame but if needed we may take some extra days,” Rahman said.
Soon after the mutiny, the paramilitary force underwent a massive restructuring when the BDR was renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) with changed uniform and logo.
Under the previous investigation a number of former BDR personnel were tried in special court under existing Penal Code and relatively minor offenders were tried in BDR courts under the then law for the force.
Rahman said, “The commission by now conveyed its interest to talk to the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina and then army chief retired general Moeen U Ahmed as part of its task.”
He said, “The commission sent letters to the foreign ministry to communicate with foreign embassies concerns to reach them out since they were currently living abroad.”
"Moeen Ahmed was army chief at that time. We need him and his statement to know why the operation failed and why so many people and army officers were killed,” Rahman said.
Asked if the commission would take into cognizance the previous two investigation reports on the carnage soon after the massacre, Rahman said that they already received their reports prepared by the committees.
The two committees were led by retired lieutenant general Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, currently the home adviser, and former secretary Anisuzzaman.
Replying to a question if the commission could talk to the then BDR personnel who were recently released from the jail, Rahman said that the commission would not approach the former BDR men.
But, he said, “The ex-BDR personnel might contact the commission if they wanted to provide information directly or through the website https://www.bdr-commission.org.”
