I'm not involved
Former army chief General Moeen U Ahmed has claimed he was not involved in atrocities on teachers and students of Dhaka University centring the much-talked-about campus violence during the last caretaker government's tenure.
Moeen also claimed he had tried utmost and worked as per instructions from the then council of advisers of the caretaker government to "improve law and order situation" in the wake of violence on the DU campus on August 21-22, 2007.
He made the claim in response to a March 29 letter from the parliamentary sub-committee probing the campus violence, asking him to appear before it and testify on April 18 at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
In a letter tagged with his written reply, the retired general, now staying in the USA for about a year, said it will not be possible for him to appear before the House probe body since he is suffering from kidney and heart diseases, committee sources told The Daily Star yesterday.
The House body also sent a letter to former chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on the same day asking him to appear before it and testify on April 18 at the Sangsad Bhaban. He is yet to respond to it.
Asked about Moeen's written reply, chief of the probe body Rashed Khan Menon said they will discuss his reply and then go for the next course of action.
“If we are convinced by his reply, we may exempt the former army chief from appearing before the sub-committe to give testimony,” Menon said.
Moeen sent his reply to Menon's parliament office through his brother Salahuddin Ahmed. He also e-mailed his reply to the probe body chief.
The parliamentary body on the education ministry formed the sub-committee last year to probe the law enforcement agencies' actions against teachers and students during the August 21-22 student unrest on the DU campus.
In his reply, Moeen mentioned that on January 10, 2007, the then president Iajuddin Ahmed asked the Armed Forces to assist the law enforcement agencies to improve law and order situation and to help the civil administration hold the national election on January 22, 2007.
“Army deployed earlier was now empowered by the government to arrest trouble creators without any warrant,” he said.
Deterioration of the country's law and order prompted the January 11 situation, and keeping army personnel in different parts of the country, he said.
“As part of improving law and order situation”, Moeen said, “Army personnel from 46 Independent Infantry Brigade were deployed at several points of Dhaka city. A camp was also set up at the Dhaka University playground.”
During a football match at the university playground, a student and a soldier exchanged harsh words centring a petty matter. In no time the quarrel spread in spite of efforts to defuse the matter, he said.
“After being informed, I sent the then chief of general staff Sinha Ibne Jamali to the spot to resolve the matter in an amicable way. But the situation deteriorated on August 21 morning when teachers and students of Dhaka University brought out procession,” Moeen went on.
“The then president called an emergency meeting where chiefs of different intelligent agencies, law enforcement agencies and other persons concerned were present. In the meeting, I proposed to withdraw the army camp from the university campus though my decision might affect troops' moral courage,” he said.
After a thorough discussion, order was given for withdrawing and closing the army camp by dawn on August 22. But instead of cooling down, the situation deteriorated further on August 22 and violence spread to other educational institutions in Dhaka city, Moeen said in his reply.
Looters took advantage of the situation as law and order situation worsened further. At this stage, law and order situation went out of control of the law enforcement agencies, said the retired general.
At an emergency meeting on August 22, the council of advisers in presence of the chiefs of law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies decided that all universities will be closed down and students' dormitories vacated, and curfew will be imposed in the country.
Moeen suggested that the House probe body take help from the findings of the judicial enquiry committee on the DU violence formed by the then caretaker government.
Comments