Untangling the web

Photo: Anisur Rahman

There is very little that one can add, at least nothing very insightful, to what has already been said and written on the BDR massacre. The opposition political parties have given their verdict on whom they think is responsible for it. And the AL has come out with theories of its own, courtesy the daily comments on the investigation by the minister for commerce. However, there are differing views on several important aspect of the matter in the Grand Alliance, particularly between the AL and its major component the JP, principally on how the matter should have been handled.
And the media in some of our neighbouring countries have not been far behind in giving their verdict in their own way as to who were behind the planned killing of the army officers. In fact, several Indian print and electronic media have already identified by name the party and the individuals that, according to them, were behind the BDR massacre, well before the situation subsided.
And of course there was a plethora of theories in Bangladesh on why and how it happened, and there was no dearth of articles both complimenting as well criticising the manner in which the government handled the situation.
An interesting feature of the post BDR-carnage theorisation was the similarity of views of the two major parties that the killing was a well-planned operation aimed at striking at the very substance of the state.
But that is where the agreement ended -- because both the parties had theories of their own on as to who might have been the masterminds that exploited the so-called grievances of the BDR soldiers, to reap the benefits of the outcome. Only recently the PM pointed fingers at the "evil force," meaning the defeated forces of 1971, for the BDR carnage.
Although articulated many times, it bears repetition that the Pilkhana mayhem was one of the most brutal events in the annals of the country's history -- proving once again that we Bengalis can be the most violent and cruel creatures when we want to be. Even the rapacious Pakistan army did not kill so many Bengali officers in one operation, and even during the nine-month war of liberation only eleven of our brave officers were martyred. And this is perhaps the unkindest cut of all -- that couldn't have been delivered by genuine members of a disciplined force like BDR. Therefore, my personal conviction that the killings were done by some professional groups is reinforced with every passing day.
Since it is the most traumatic event since 1971, and something that one hopes would never be repeated, it is imperative that we study the event dispassionately to draw lessons from it. This must be done in order to assess objectively as to what went wrong and why. But first of all it is necessary to remove some of the misconceptions about the issue that were created by debates and comments some of which betrayed a limited understanding of the matter.

Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan (retd) is editor, Defence and Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.