Remembering the Pilkhana victims
The morning started just like any other day.
Children were heading for school, commuters hurrying along the road to go to work and others staying at home either sleeping or preparing to go outside.
Around 9:00am, some traders were opening their shops on the Satmasjid Road in the capital's Dhanmondi. Suddenly, they heard some gunshots that pierced through the cacophony of traffic.
The gunshots baffled the neighbourhood. Initially, people thought some exercises were going on inside the then BDR headquarters.
But the deep loud noise of heavy weapons continued to echo. No one could imagine that a bloody mutiny had brewed in Pilkhana which would jolt a newly formed government.
As the gunshot did not stop, they immediately realised something terrible was happening inside the Pilkhana headquarters of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), which was later renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
A group of heavily armed border troops were carrying out a mindless killing there.
The mutiny that rolled on for next 33 hours left the nation benumbed, as people stood aghast at the extent of the barbarity perpetrated on the army officers. It left 74 people dead, 57 of them were army officers.
The brutal incident happened on this day eight years ago.
For the salvation of the departed souls, doa and milad mahfils will be held at all the regional, sectors, institutes and units of BGB today.
Representatives from the president and prime minister, home minister, chiefs of the three forces and BGB director general will place wreaths at the memorial monuments of the deceased.
A special prayer will be offered tomorrow after Asr prayers at Bir Uttam Fazlur Rahman Khandakar Auditorium at Pilkhana.
Meanwhile, family members of the victims are yet to get justice as the trial of the mutiny cases is currently pending with the High Court.
Talking to The Daily Star, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the HC hearing on the death reference and appeals might conclude within April.
“I hope that the High Court would deliver its verdict by June,” he said.
Later, the court might take some more time to write and release the full verdict. Then, both sides might appeal against the verdict at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
A special HC bench of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique, and Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder began hearing the death reference and 255 appeals in January 2015.
The HC has held hearing on the appeals and death reference for 359 days.
The death reference and the appeals were filed with the HC months after a Dhaka court delivered its verdict in the case on November 5, 2013, nearly five years after the bloody mutiny.
The trial court handed death sentences to 150 soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles and two civilians, and jailed 160 others for life for their roles and involvement in the carnage.
It also handed down rigorous imprisonment, ranging from three to 10 years, to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers. The court acquitted the remaining 277 accused, but the government later appealed against the acquittal of 69 of them. A total of 846 people, 823 of them BDR personnel, stood trial in the carnage case.
A total of 17,306 BDR jawans are facing trial in 11 special BDR courts and 60 summary trial courts for mutiny. At least 78 accused jawans, both in the carnage and mutiny cases, died under mysterious circumstances after the mutiny. Many of them reportedly died of heart attack in police custody while a few others committed suicide.