Violence in Dhanmondi

At about noon today I got a text from the school while I was supporting a Theory of Knowledge class that read "Due to violence at BDR in Dhanmondi, Bus #1 will not run Wed. afternoon or Thursday morning. All other AISD activities will continue as scheduled." This was the first piece of news I heard about what's been happening this afternoon, and I have yet to learn much more. I knew something bad happened when I found out that guns were involved, because virtually no civilians have access to firearms. I had no idea what was actually going on, but with a new government in power, military unrest is the last thing they need.

Dhanmondi is the old posh center of the city, but is now the heart of the university and older money populations. As a result, the place can be both beautiful and a powder keg for student protests. I've heard a few rumors about what has happened, but finding the true story has proven to be a difficult task. What seems to have happened is a rebellion by the Bangladeshi Border Defense Rifles, a group of soldiers. Shots were fired in Dhanmondi and at least one death has been reported. 16 others were injured by stray bullets of the gunfight that raged in and around the BDR headquarters (Daily Star newspaper). The headquarters are surrounded by a park that Jimmy and Sara ate lunch next to on Friday.

Teachers who have been here awhile are very calm about the whole situation, although the school is closing down completely at 4pm to give all the staff a chance to get home and make sure everything is secure. The veteran teachers explained that this sort of thing happened occasionally until the military government assumed control of the country two years ago. This does not appear to be a situation that will endanger anyone as far north as Gulshan and Baridhara, and the American club is still open. One teacher who lived in Bangladesh in 1975 said that in that year there were three coups and they all began with something smallish and odd like this.

Although the Daily Star's website provides some rudimentary information on it's front page, all of the story links are dead or more likely the website cannot handle the amount of hits that are coming in right now. The local news stations are covering it in Bangla, but Jimmy cannot understand them. CNN and Al Jazeera are focusing on the plane crash in Amsterdam. Unlike the Mumbia attacks, which were covered extensively on the local CNN, there is only a brief scrolling line about the one dead in Dhaka. This isn't even accurate as there is only one civilian dead, but more soldiers.

I am writing this as we watch the local news, which just switched to the rebel soldiers inside the park gates. The men being interviewed are wearing military fatigues and in full combat gear. One is holding two grenades in his hand. We are trying to decipher what is going on, and Jimmy seems to think one of them just said something about getting "Sheikh" (Hassina, the current Prime Minister) out of Bangladesh. They are taking turns shouting into the microphone, some have orange cloth over their faces.

The soldiers are demanding a meeting with the Prime Minister to hear their demands. This seems a bit odd because they are a small rebel force in the middle of the city, I can't figure out what their bargaining power. Here is what the Daily Star says:

--- Talking to reporters inside the BDR headquarters, the soldiers said they would not talk to anybody except the prime minister and the home minister.

“We will allow the PM and cabinet members in. We will tell them our demands. You ask them to come right now. We will call ceasefire once they are in,” a BDR jawan said.

The BDR jawans also demanded the army cordon be withdrawn before any type of talks.

“We want the PM and the home minister to come. We want to tell them that we need freedom.”

“Everybody knows how miserably we live. We cannot work independently. We don’t have a department of our own.”

The BDR jawans claimed that there were up to 20,000 BDR soldiers inside the headquarters. “We have no problem to surrender our arms. But we won’t turn in ourselves until our demands are met, and this war will continue.” -----

Again, I'm not sure exactly what they want. We are just watching the screen and picking up the occasional word or phrase.

The actions of the Dhanmondi BDR soldiers reverberated in the South, where their colleagues in Kulna also sacked a local camp...

OK, found some more information about what is happening here (this will also give you an idea of the writing in this newspaper):

Thousands of rounds of gunshots and mortar firing are rocking the BDR Headquarters and adjacent areas in Dhaka as “angry and aggrieved” BDR soldiers launched a violent and armed mutiny against their high command from around 7:45am.

At least four army officers have been killed and dozens have been held hostage, claimed one of the protesting soldiers at BDR gate number-3 at around 10:30am.

Sources said that the number of death could be much higher as the soldiers have been firing all sorts of weapons at all directions.

Fire and smoke can be seen from the outer perimeters of the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters.

According to reports from The Daily Star correspondents, heavy weapons like cannons have been used to damage some buildings, while the soldiers driving armoured vehicles were shooting at any attempt of the Rab or the Bangladesh Army to enter the BDR perimeter.

With all of its five gates closed, hundreds of soldiers wearing red bandana and partly covering their faces with yellow clothes were seen staging armed processions in front of the gates—letting the people know that they were angry.

“We have been deprived for a long time, we have deep grievances,” the soldiers chanted as their slogans.

Meanwhile, due to the violent situation, all the adjacent markets including the New Market have been closed. Doors and windows of all nearby buildings have been closed.

Thousands of people who have homes in the BDR headquarter area have remained stranded while many relatives of BDR officers and soldiers who had either came out of the perimeters or have just arrived from other places were seen crying for their near and dear ones who might have been held hostage by the situation.

At about 11:45am, army personnel were trying to enter inside the BDR headquarters as the BDR soldiers guarded all its gates.

Thousands of army personnel have encircled the BDR headquarters and are advancing slowly to enter the premises with firing gunshots.

Heavy weapons including recoil less riles and rocket launchers have been deployed. And helicopters are also firing shots inside the BDR compound.

Army personnel are offering to talk with the rebel BDR soldiers over loudspeaker while the rebel soldiers are firing gunshots from inside the headquarters.----