Young rebels most ruthless

Young members of Bangladesh Rifles were most ruthless during last year's BDR mutiny at its Pilkhana headquarters, said a top BDR official yesterday.
Col Aziz Ahmed, BDR sector commander of Dhaka, said this at a news briefing after the special court-5 read out individual charges against the 192 more accused.
Young soldiers mainly played key-role during mutiny, while some senior members who were involved in the attempted revolt of 1991, led it, the official said.
They also instigated the mutineers saying that such a rebellion took place in 1991, but none faced any trouble, Aziz added.
Referring to a young soldier Moniruzzaman, Aziz said he was among the group who went to meet the prime minister for negotiation during the mutiny.
The court headed by BDR Director General Md Rafiqul Islam has so far read out charges against 375 accused of the total 667 from 24 Rifle Battalions.
The three-member court began hearing shortly after 10:00am and continued up to 2:30pm when all the accused were produced before the court.
Other judges of the court are Lt Col AKM Golam Rabbani and Maj Syed Hasan Taposh.
Of the 668 accused, the court exempted Naik Jainal Abedin from the charges as he died in the meantime.
Two BDR majors and seven lawyers were present at the court to assist the defendants as "friends of the accused".
During the February 25-26 bloodbath at Pilkhana in 2009, some 74 people including 57 army officers were brutally killed.