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"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered a general amnesty to the mutineers who held more than 100 top officers hostage. But law-enforcers, surrounding the headquarters since morning yesterday, told The Daily Star that many of the officers were feared dead including Director General of BDR Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed."
"Bodies of the two officers -- Col Mujibul Huq and Lt Col Enayetul Haq -- were recovered from a sewage system outside the BDR headquarters. But their deaths were not officially declared till filing of this report at 3:45am today."
"Sources said the number of dead officers would be much higher. Witnesses said they saw scores of bodies lying on the ground in and around Pilkhana, adding that some jawans were seen stabbing the bodies with bayonets. Unofficial sources claimed that at least a half of around 6,000 soldiers opposed the mutiny. Many of them were killed along with the officers, though it could not be confirmed. Some of the disagreeing soldiers fled Pilkhana as soon as they saw the killing of the officers, unconfirmed sources said."
"The mutiny apparently had no specific leader, although the rebels named one Nayek Shahid as their leader in their television interviews. Sources said they were acting as sparse small groups."
"Thousands of army personnel surrounded the BDR headquarters with cannons, recoilless rifles, heavy machineguns and rocket launchers. Trucks after trucks, soldiers after soldiers filed through the streets of Dhanmondi, Satmasjid Road and Jigatola."
"At least three civilians were dead and 23 civilians were injured from bullets fired indiscriminately by the mutineers. One BDR jawan was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH)."
"Several thousand others, who are family members of the jawans (mutineers) and officers, also remained hostage to the situation as they could not come out of the Pilkhana area."
"The situation was so tense that when a stray bullet seriously injured a student near Jigatola at noon, he lay on the ground for more than an hour till he could be rescued and admitted to Ibn Sina Hospital at 3:00pm, where he was declared dead."
"Hundreds of BDR soldiers wearing red bandanas or helmets and partly covering their faces, were seen staging armed processions in front of the gates since 10.30am. They chanted slogans saying, 'We have been deprived for a long time, we have deep grievances.'"
"During the BNP rule between 1991 and 1996, the lower tier of BDR had staged mutinies in Dhaka, Chittagong, Feni, Jessore, Khulna and Naogaon, expressing similar grievances. Those mutinies did not witness bloodshed and the jawans were assured of measures addressing their issues which were ultimately shelved."
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Clearly some questions remain unanswered. But this appears to be, at it's heart, a simple salary/power dispute. The BDR didn't want the army controlling them and wanted army pay and benefits. Their demands were not immediately met, and he Bangladeshi mob mentality prevailed.
There hasn't been much news today, though the situation is far from resolved. It's hard for me to believe that these BDR men will simply go back to their barracks without any repercussion from the government, who has granted amnesty. Certainly this is a tricky situation for the government: they want it to be over, and granting amnesty got the mutineers to put down their arms. On the other hand, these are trained men who fired on unsuspecting army officers and rewarding them with amnesty and higher pay seems like setting a bad precedent. On the third hand, if you grand amnesty to stop the violence then just off all the people involved you aren't creating the most honest environment. I have the feeling there will be some more bodies floating in the rivers of Dhaka before all is said and done.
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