Witness of horror tells of death, his freedom

Third prosecution witness to the BDR carnage case, Lt Col Mohammad Abu Tasnim, walks out of the makeshift court at Bakshibazar after recording his deposition at the court yesterday.Photo: STAR

Seeing some BDR soldiers beating Maj Gazzali, Lt Col Mohammad Abu Tasnim quickly hid himself behind a building in Pilkhana during the bloody mutiny on February 25 in 2009.
Within a few minutes, he heard someone groaning after two or three gunshots. Coming out of the hideout, Lt Col Tasnim saw a few armed jawans taking away the body of Maj Gazzali in a sack.
Fifty-seven army officers including Gazzali were among the 74 people brutally killed in the February 25-26 BDR mutiny.
A survivor of the carnage and then commanding officer of signal sector, Lt Col Tasnim was presenting his statement to a Dhaka court yesterday as the third prosecution witness to the killing case.
He gave vivid descriptions on how the mutiny broke out from the Darbar Hall during BDR week and his agonising hours in captivity with his seven family members in Pilkhana.
Nayek Subeder Fazlul Karim, habilder Anisuzzaman, nayek Wazed and soldier Motiur Rahman were among the jawans, who took Gazzali's body away.
Making his hour-long statement at a jam-packed makeshift courtroom at Bakshi Bazar, Lt Col Tasnim named 14 BDR personnel, most of whom joined a negotiation with the prime minister at that time. He also named sepoy Zillur's wife China Begum, from whom his mobile phone was recovered later.
"I entered the Darbar Hall five minutes before it started at 9:00am on the day," said Taslnim, now posted at Inter Selection Services Board (ISSB) in Dhaka Cantonment.
"The DG started addressing the meeting on time. Suddenly sepoy Moyeen with firearms appeared on the stage from the rear side of the hall. Other senior officers grabbed him and lay him on the floor as he fainted.
"I stepped forward and saw sepoy Kajol running away. Maj Khalid followed him [Kajol]," Lt Col Tasnim continued. "The situation inside the hall got messy in minutes."
At that time Col Anis announced that Darbar (meeting) will start again. Standing at gate-5, he with two other officers was asking jawans to enter the Darbar Hall but no one paid heed to them, the witness said.
Lt Col Tasnim went on to say that he had noticed three to four jawans with firearms standing on the playground near the hall with 15-20 yards of gap between them.
"Suddenly one shouted out 'encircle them [officers] so none can go out'," Lt Col Tasnim said, adding he then saw a pick-up van coming towards the Darbar Hall.
He said he soon entered the Darbar Hall. "Inside, I could hear the sounds of firing on the playground. I told the DG 'Sir, we are surrounded' and the DG said, 'Commanders go and take care of your troops.'"
Following the DG's order, he headed towards signal sector and on the way he met Maj Mokbul and Maj Gazzali. They told him to put off his rank, but he did not.
"After sometime I reached JCO [junior commanding officer] mess near signal sector and found that six-seven jawans were beating Maj Gazzali," Lt Col Tasnim said in tears. "I hid behind a building. Moments later, I heard two-three gunshots and someone groaning with pain. And then Gazzali's body was being taken away."
"Soon a sepoy spotted me outside the JCO mess and pointed a SMG [sub-machine gun] to my head. The sepoy called others saying 'another one is found.'"
Then seven to eight jawans took him near RSB (Rifles Sports Board) building and from there Lance Nayek Rezaul and three to four others took him to Tattu Show line where he was held captive until his release at 5:00pm the following day, Lt Col Tasnim said.
He also said during his captivity he talked to some officers over mobile phone. They informed him that 14 members including deputy assistant directors (DAD) Towhid, Habib, Nasir, Jalil and Rahim went to the Prime Minister's Office to talk to Sheikh Hasina. But they did not disclose anything about the killings.
Later, he [Tasnim] came to know that habilder Rafiq, sepoys Moniruzzaman, Selim Reza and Selim were also in the meeting.
After Lt Col Tasnim completed his statement, DAD Towhidul Islam's counsel cross-examined him for a few minutes and then the court was adjourned until September 29.
At the beginning of the day's proceedings, second prosecution witness Inspector Kamal Uddin gave his statement and was cross-examined by the defence lawyers. He was the officer-in-charge of Newmarket Police Station where the case was shifted to from Lalbagh Police Station.
Defence lawyers had pleaded to the court not to record statements of Lt Col Tasnim saying he had been present in the courtroom during second witness's statement and cross-examination which was still fresh in his memory.